Omicron not yet dominant despite spike in COVID cases — DOH exec

Despite the increase in the number of COVID-19 infections in the past days, Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega said Monday the Omicron coronavirus variant is not yet dominant in the country.

In a television interview, Vega, also the country's treatment czar, said Omicron could be dominant in the next three to four weeks. He also noted that the Delta variant is still threatening the country.

"I think we now have still the Delta around but since we reported our first Omicron case way back December 5 and there has been a continuous increase in the sequencing of this Omicron virus, it looks like we will presume that the Omicron is here but it's still not dominant," Vega told ANC.

"I think in about three to four weeks, as predicted, the Omicron will be dominant in terms of 50% to 90% of the cases, overtaking the Delta virus. But the Delta virus is definitely still around with us," he added.

At a virtual briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that as of Friday, December 31, 2021, 42.48% among the samples with lineages detected the Delta variant.

Meanwhile 0.07% of these samples detected the Omicron variant, which is a variant of concern per the World Health Organization.

“During the first detection of this Omicron variant, it was at 4.17% or two out of the 48 samples. In our most recent run or detection, [there were] 10 out of the 48 samples or 28.83%,” she said.

Vega said the COVID-19 infections would still peak in the coming days, adding that it is uncertain when the cases will decelerate. He said Omicron has a high transmissibility rate, which is 30 to 50% higher compared to Delta.

"We are preparing our health system capacity, our testing, isolation so that we are all prepared in this another ride in the wave of this Omicron virus," Vega said.

The recent increase in the number of COVID-19 cases prompted the national government to place Metro Manila under Alert Level 3 from January 3 to 15. At present, the COVID-19 positivity rate in Metro Manila "slowed down" to 28.7%, according to independent OCTA Research Group.

On Sunday, the Philippines recorded 4,600 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing the country’s active case tally to 21,418. The total caseload now stands at 2.851 million which includes 2.778 million recoveries, and 51,570 deaths.

The country had detected three local cases of the Omicron variant, two from the National Capital Region and one from the Bicol Region. So far, the number of Omicron variant cases in the country has reached 14.

Of the 11 other cases, nine were returning overseas Filipinos and two were foreign nationals.

Vergeire said that all of them were either asymptomatic or had mild disease and have finished the minimum 10-day isolation period.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said that the Omicron variant may already be responsible for the rise in COVID-19 cases in the country.

Flurona

Meanwhile, Vega also allayed concerns regarding a report on an individual in Israel which was detected to have flu and COVID-19 at the same time.

Vega said it is not a cause of concern here in the Philippines.

"I think what Israel was stating is that they found this in patient who have a very poor immunity and a pregnant woman and there were two viruses that actually set in, the one is the influenza virus and the other is the coronavirus," Vega said.

"That can happen especially if you don't have the immunity where you will be protected by these viruses," he added. — RSJ, GMA News