MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) has yet to receive an official statement from the World Health Organization (WHO) on the community transmission of new variants of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Philippines, the agency’s spokesperson said Friday.
“We still not have received from WHO an official statement to inform us that there is this, based on their assessment that there is already community transmission among these variants that we have already detected in the country,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online briefing.
Vergeire, however, said they have assumed such transmission due to reports about individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 variants.
“But of course, there has been this assumption already even before dahil nakikita naman ho natin na talagang tumataas ang bilang ng mga taong naa-identify natin with these variants,” she said.
WHO country representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe earlier said they are seeing “some degree of community transmission” of the variants that were first detected in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Abeyasinghe said there was reason to believe that there was community transmission of the said variants in several parts of the Greater Manila Area based on evidence and the number of cases.
The linkages among cases could not be traced yet and that it was uncertain whether these variants were now the dominant variants in the said areas.
“We have a challenged in the fact that the Philippines has limited capacity for genome sequencing. We have only capacity to do about 700 samples on a weekly basis,” Abeyasinghe said.
“We are engaging with the government to see how we can expand that capacity. With limited capacity, it’s difficult for us to judge exactly how widespread these variants are and how their distribution is,” he added.
The WHO said it has sent a team of experts to assess the possible community transmission of new COVID-19 variants in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
Following this pronouncement, the DOH reminded the public to protect themselves by complying with health protocols and to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
“Kahit ano pang variant ang meron tayo dito sa ating bansa, pareho pa rin kailangan nating gawin. di porket may community transmission… ay talagang naman pong matatakot na tayo ng husto,” she said.
“Kailangan lang lang po ay lalabanan natin by doing and complying with the heath protocols at kung eligible na po kayong magpabakuna, magpabakuna na po tayo,” she added. – RRD (with details from Correspondent Aiko Miguel)
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