The World Health Organization (WHO) said the P.3 Covid-19 variant that was first detected in Cebu appears to be less transmissible than earlier reported.
“The evidence we have been seeing, particularly the stabilization of transmission in Central Visayas and Cebu, indicates that this probably does not have that increased transmissibility that was originally thought to be associated with it,” WHO Representative in the Philippines Rabindra Abeyasinghe said in an interview with PTV on Monday.
He noted until they could have new findings, they classified P.3 as a “variant of interest rather than a variant of concern.”
However, the WHO official stressed their investigation on the said variant, which is now also detected in Japan, is still ongoing.
“We are looking at the epidemiological information – looking at the number of people affected and the treatment outcomes and this process takes time,” Abeyasinghe said.
“And so as regards to severity of disease and indeed even regarding the transmission potential of the P.3 variant we are still analyzing the data and so we can’t conclude conclusively about the potential impact of this variant,” he added.
The Department of Health (DOH) earlier said 148 people have so far been infected with the P.3 variant.