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The Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday, March 22, that the more infectious variants of COVID-19, such as the United Kingdom (B117) and South Africa (B1351), are now present in all cities in Metro Manila.
In a virtual press briefing on Monday morning, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said these variants had helped drive the surge of COVID-19 cases in the capital region, but she stressed the public’s non-compliance with health protocols was still the “root cause.”
“We saw that in all of the cities we already have either the UK variant or the South African variant. Also, in other cities, they have both the UK variant and South African variant. So we can say, yes, the variants are here, and, yes, they have contributed to the increase in the number of cases,” she added in a mix of English and Filipino.
The country now has 223 cases of the UK variant, with 167 recoveries and 6 deaths. Meanwhile, 152 cases of the South Africa variant have been reported, with 86 recoveries and 4 deaths. Majority of the cases are from Metro Manila.
The country also reported its first case of the highly transmissible Brazil variant of COVID-19. The patient, a returning overseas Filipino from Western Visayas, has recovered from the disease.
Meanwhile, 104 cases of the new P3 variant, which was first found in local samples in the Philippines, were also reported. Most of the cases are from Central Visayas.
The DOH said the P3 variant “is not identified as a variant of concern as current available data are insufficient to conclude whether the variant will have significant public health implications.”
Vergeire said the DOH was still working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to verify the impact of the P3 variant on public health.
After the number of COVID-19 cases shot up to nearly 8,000 over the weekend, the Philippine government announced stricter quarantine measures, declaring Metro Manila and four surrounding province – Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, and Cavite – as a bubble.
The pandemic has so far infected over 123 million people globally. In the Philippines, a total of 663,794 COVID-19 infections have been reported, with 12,968 deaths and 577,754 recoveries. – Rappler.com
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