The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) will discuss today the inclusion of other countries with the new variant of COVID-19 in the implementation of restricted travel.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said in the Laging Handa Public Briefing on Monday that they are also monitoring countries other than the United Kingdom with reported mutation of COVID-19.
“Hindi lang UK new variant ang ating binabantayan kasi pwedeng mayroon tayo sa South Africa na lumalabas din. Mayroon din possible sa ibang mga bansa (It is not just the new UK variant that we are monitoring because there is also a reported one in South Africa. There is also a possibility in other countries),” Sec. Duque stated.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said getting confirmation from countries with the reported new variant is a challenge to the health department which makes them rely on the advisory of international health regulations and the World Health Organization WHO) before expanding the travel ban.
The DOH assured on Monday noon that the new variant from UK has not yet entered the country. The results of the gene sequencing conducted by the Philippine Genome Center are expected to be released this week.
Meanwhile, the public is reminded to continue observing minimum health standards regardless of the COVID-19 variant and the low number of recently reported cases since fewer laboratories were able to submit their data.
The effect of the holiday season on the number of cases has yet to be determined in the middle of January. – Report from Mark Fetalco
