The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday (Dec. 6) said the Philippines has not yet detected any Omicron COVID-19 variant case.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a briefing that the Delta variant remains the dominant variant in the country based on the latest genome sequencing report.
“There were 629 samples sequenced in the latest run. Of these, 571 or 90.78% are positive for Delta variant, 0.16% or 1 for Beta variant, and another 1 for Alpha variant,” she said.
Despite the threat of Omicron variant worldwide, the COVID-19 trend and epidemic curve of the country has continued to go down, with daily average cases from Nov. 29 to Dec. 5 down by over 40%. This is lower than the lowest recorded average in August 2020.
“This average cases per day is already nine times lower than those reported in July of 2021 at 4,982, and also lower than 1,130 cases per day observed from December 27, 2020 to January 2 of 2021,” Vergeire said.
In terms of case risk classification, the National Capital Region (NCR), Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), and Region 2 are under low risk, while the rest of the country is under the minimal risk category.
All regions have a low-risk classification in terms of health systems.
A downward trend was also observed starting October this year.
Meanwhile, the DOH announced its “Ligtas Christmas Sa Healthy Pilipinas” campaign as the holiday season nears, to remind the public of the continued observance of minimum public health standards.
The campaign also covers the government’s appeal to the public to get vaccinated, eat healthily, and the prevention of accidents and injuries caused by firecrackers. – Report from Sweeden Velado-Ramirez/AG- bny
