(Eagle News) – The Department of Health said that there is no Brazilian variant of the COVID-19 virus that has been detected in the country.
The clarification came after Quezon City mayor Joy Belmonte announced on Wednesday the presence of the alleged variant in one case in the city.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that this is not the case, and corrected Belmonte.
“We would like to clarify that we have not detected the Brazilian variant of concern in the 3,420 samples we have sequenced as of this date,” Vergeire said in a statement.
Belmonte earlier said that there were 18 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant or the United Kingdom variant; 13 cases of the B.1.351 variant or the South African variant, and one alleged “Brazilian variant.”
But Vergeire and other health experts said that this is not a Brazilian variant, but a virus that is part of the “Brazilian lineage” which is not a variant of concern.
“We would also like to clarify that a common variant identified among our sequenced samples was of Brazilian origin (B.1.128) but not a variant of concern,” she said.
The Brazilian variant is known as the P.1 variant.
-Brazilian lineage of virus explained-
Dr. Eva Maria Cutiongco-dela Paz, the executive director of the UP National Institute of Health, also said that there has been no detected Brazilian variant yet, but only a Brazilian lineage of the COVID-19 virus.
“May Brazilian lineage lamang. Wala pa po tayong Brazilian variant,” she said.
She said that the Brazilian lineage is a sub-tag of the SARS-COV-2 virus from a “common ancestor.”
Even so, Dela Paz said that they are not disregarding the possibility of the entry of the Brazilian variant.
“Hindi dini-disregard ang posibilidad na yan (We are not disregarding that possibility),” she said in a Laging Handa press briefing on Thursday, March 11.
“Ang virus, it wants to be a better virus kaya nag-mu-mutate siya.” she said.
Not all mutations, however, are harmful or bad, she stressed.
“Hindi po lahat ng mutations ay nakakasama.”
She said that so far, only the UK variant and the South African variant has been detected in the country, but these are not still the dominant variant.
Even so, Dela Paz said that in order to even remove this possibility, people should not be complacent and must conscientiously follow minimum health standards of frequent handwashing and sanitizing, wearing of face mask and face shield, and observance of social distancing.
She urged the public to follow the PDITR or the “Prevent, Detect, Isolate, Treat and Reintegrate” strategy.
(Eagle News Service)