DOH: No new strain of virus causing COVID-19 in Philippines yet

The Department of Health (DOH) has yet to see a new strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 in the Philippines, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Monday.

Vergeire was responding to a query on a new strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 and linked to mutations involving spike protein that COVID-19 uses to infect human cells seen in the United Kingdom (UK)—a situation that prompted other European countries to restrictions on travels from the UK.

“According to RITM, wala pa silang nakikitang bagong strain [ng COVID-19 virus] sa ating bansa,” Vergeire said.

Vergeire was referring to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

The Health Department, however, is not letting its guard down.

“But we are furthering our monitoring para kung sakali ay mapaigting natin ang pagbabantay kung meron man,” Vergeire added.

Likewise, Vergeire said there is no need to impose stricter travel restrictions given that the country only allows entry for diplomats, individuals with businesses in the Philippines and Filipino citizens.

“Iyon pa lang ang pinapapasok natin and strenghened rin ang measures natin on testing, quarantine na isinasagawa sa ating borders,” Vergeire added.

It was US COVID-19 vaccine program head Dr. Moncef Slaoui who first announced in a CNN interview that Washington is monitoring the new strain of COVID-19 emerging in the United Kingdom but also assured the Americans that such UK mutation was “very unlikely” to be resistant to current vaccines.

Slaoui’s statements were later echoed by US President Donald Trump’s Surgeon General Jerome Adams who said that mutating viruses were not unusual.

The Philippines has recorded 459,789 COVID-19 cases so far. Of this number, 429,134 recovered while 8,947 died.

The number of active COVID-19 cases is at 21,708. — RSJ, GMA News