THE Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday reported the detection of one additional B.1.617.2 (India lineage) variant case, 104 B.1.1.7 (UK) variant cases, 137 B.1.351 (South Africa) variant cases, and four P.3 (first detected in the Philippines) variant cases based on the latest whole-genome sequencing report.
The detection of the variants was made possible through the biosurveillance efforts of the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center and the University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health.
The DOH said the additional B.1.617.2 variant case is a recovered Returning Overseas Filipino (ROF) from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with an indicated address in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
The case has completed the 10-day isolation after arrival in the country and was discharged upon certification of recovery.
This brings the total number of B.1.617.2 cases to 13. The first 12 were detected in returning crewmembers of a vessel that had been to India.
B.1.1.7 variant
Of the additional 104 B.1.1.7 (UK) variant cases detected, one case is a ROF, 89 are local cases, and 14 are currently being verified to determine if they are local or ROF cases.
Based on the case line list, five cases are still active, three cases died while 96 have been tagged as recovered.
The total B.1.1.7 variant cases now total 1,071.
B.1.351
Of the additional 137 B.1.351 (South Africa) variant cases, one case is an ROF, 127 are local cases, and nine cases are currently being verified as to whether they are local or ROF cases.
Based on the case line list, nine cases are still active, five were fatalities, and 123 have recovered.
There are now a total B.1.351 variant cases of 1,246.
P.3 variant
Of the additional four P.3 variant cases, three are local cases; one is under verification to determine if this is a local or ROF case. Based on the case line list, all have recovered.
“The detection of additional variants of concern cases supports the need for strict adherence to minimum public health standards to minimize risk of exposure and infection and getting vaccinated once it is our turn,” the DOH said.
Likewise, despite the local presence of these variants of concern, the DOH stressed the need to keep case numbers down in order to minimize the transmission as well as the emergence of new variants.
7,443 new Covid cases
On Saturday, the DOH logged 7,443 additional cases, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 1,216,582.
There were also 7,533 recoveries and 156 deaths.
Of the total number of cases, 4.4 percent (53,614) are active cases, 93.9 percent (1,142,246) have recovered, and 1.70 percent (20,722) died.
Moreover, 91 cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.
All laboratories were operational on May 27, 2021, while two laboratories were not able to submit their data to the Covid-19 Document Repository System.
Based on data in the last 14 days, the two non-reporting labs contribute, on average, 0.3 percent of samples tested and 0.7 percent of positive individuals.
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