(Eagle News) — The Department of Health on Thursday acknowledged that there was an increase in the number of COVID-19 variants in the country but said this was due to “increased genomic biosurveillance activities.”
The DOH made the statement as it announced there were 1,075 South Africa variant cases in the Philippines as of May 3.
Apart from the B.1351 variant cases, it said there were so far 948 variant cases first detected in the United Kingdom (B.1.1.7 ), 157 variant cases first detected in the Philippines(P.3), and two variant cases first detected in Brazil (P.1).
The DOH clarified, however, that the detection of these variants of concern (VOCs) and variants under investigation (VUIs) “does not mean that these variants are now the dominant variants in the country.”
“(The) DOH is also doing purposive sampling to ensure a higher likelihood of detecting the variant, which means that more samples are taken from areas, clusters, and groups of people that are likely to have these VOCs/VUIs. Hence, there is a disproportionately higher number of samples being sequenced from areas with reported clustering, increased severe and critical cases, and a bigger presence of returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs),” the department said.
The department said the purpose of genomic biosurveillance is to “determine the presence of VOCs and VUIs to monitor their spread, and determine the correlation of the presence of these variants to observed case clusters and spikes, increased severity or fatality, and cases of re-infection.”
“A thorough analysis of these data allows the government to implement more responsive strategies to mitigate the impact of the said variants,” it said.