The Department of Health (DOH) confirmed that three travelers who arrived in the country from Nov. 15 to 29 tested positive for COVID-19, including one from South Africa which has over 180 Omicron variant cases.
“Mayroon pong dumating na 253 from South Africa from Nov. 15 to 29, may 3 galing Burkina Faso, ang may 541 galing sa Egypt. Each of these countries, nagkaroon ng traveler who tested positive for COVID-19,” DOH USec. Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a briefing.
“Lahat po ng nag-positive na ‘yan, as long as their CT [cycle threshold] value is appropriate, ipapadala po natin sa Philippine Genome Center for whole genome sequencing,” she added.
The DOH said out of the 253 arrivals from South Africa from Nov. 15 to 29, 249 are returning overseas Filipinos and four are foreign nationals. The Bureau of Quarantine has already “verified or contacted” 71 of them, while 182 “are still being verified.
The department earlier reported that the three foreigners from Region 6 tested negative in their COVID-19 retest.
No Omicron yet in PH
The Philippines has not yet detected any Omicron case, but the variant has already entered 35 countries. The DOH assured that the country is prepared when it enters the country.
“Pag tiningnan natin ‘yung analysis nung pagpasok ng mga variants sa ating bansa, kung kailan tumaas ang kaso, kung kailan siya na-detect, we were able to delay the entry of Delta variant here in the country for about a month bago tayo nagtaas ng kaso,” Vergeire said.
“This is a very important lesson for all of us, we close our borders early enough, we implemented strict protocols in borders early enough, and we did surveillance in the community and intensified our community response,” she added.
The National Capital Region (NCR) remains at low risk classification for COVID-19, according to OCTA Research Group’s monitoring. However, it suggested the continuous monitoring on Omicron developments
“The Omicron wave is increasing at a substantially faster rate than Delta, what this suggests is that it is more transmissible which is why when people say it looks more transmissible, this is the data they are pointing to,” Fr. Nicanor Austriaco of OCTA said.
Meanwhile, the government remains committed to increasing its vaccination coverage as it approved booster administration to the general adult population.
As of Dec. 3 morning, 8,014,751 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the first three days of the Bayanihan Bakunahan campaign. – Report from Mark Fetalco/AG-rir
