New COVID-19 variant in PH since Dec. 10, but ‘no evidence’ of community transmission

CNN – Published Jan 23, 2021 4:20:34 PM

Metro Manila — The coronavirus variant first discovered in the United Kingdom has been in the Philippines as early as Dec. 10, based on the latest data available.

In a media briefing on Saturday, the Department of Health’s Epidemiology Bureau disclosed that the new variant was detected in the COVID-positive specimen of a 23-year-old man from Calamba, Laguna whose sample was collected on Dec. 10 for whole genome sequencing.

This was among the 1,154 samples processed by the Philippine Genome Center, the results of which were released on Friday. In the batch, 16 were found to be cases of the new variant, a mutated coronavirus believed to be more contagious.

“Ang mga kasong ito ay patuloy pong under investigation para malaman natin kung ano po ang tinatawag nating exposure – kanino po nila posibleng nakuha ang infection, or di po kaya meron pong significant travel history, especially travel history outside the Philippines,” Dr. Alethea de Guzman of the DOH’s Epidemiology Bureau said.

[Translation: These cases are still under investigation to ascertain the exposure – from whom did they possibly get the infection, or if they have a significant travel history, especially travel history outside the Philippines.]

Earlier, a Quezon City resident who left for Dubai on Dec. 27 and returned to the Philippines on Jan. 7 was declared as the first known case of the new variant in the country last week. He has since recovered.

Is there community transmission?

Given the ongoing probe, members of the technical working group studying the new COVID-19 variant said it would be “premature” to declare that there is community transmission of the mutated coronavirus in the country.

Celia Carlos, director of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, explained that according to the World Health Organization, community transmission is present when there’s a large number of infections not linked to transmission chains, when there’s a high proportion of positive cases from sentinel lab surveillance, and when there are multiple unrelated clusters in several areas in the country.

“Considering that the investigation is ongoing, it may be premature for us now to determine whether there’s ongoing community transmission,” Carlos said.

Dr. Edsel Salvana of the DOH Technical Advisory Group agreed.

“Right now, there’s no evidence of community transmission. It doesn’t mean that it is not there, but we will continue to look,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr. John Wong, an epidemiologist and another member of the technical working group, said the Philippines was not late in detecting the variant, considering that it only took the country a month to do so from the time the Calamba patient was tested.

When the UK reported the presence of a new coronavirus variant, the samples they had taken were from September, or three months back, Salvana explained.

Is it more deadly?

The country’s experts also refused to conclude that the variant is not just spreading faster, it may also be more lethal than the previous ones.

Members of the Philippines’ technical working group were one in calling the UK study suggesting this as “preliminary.” They added that other factors may contribute in the increase in deaths – including an overwhelmed health care system and the age and comorbidities of infected patients.

“’Pag puno po ‘yung mga ospital, mas maraming mamamatay kasi ‘yung iba hindi po naaalagaan (When hospitals reach full capacity, many would die because they are not given proper treatment),” Salvana said.

“It is also about the characteristics of the patient… The older you are, the higher the risk of dying,” said another member of the technical working group, Dr. Marissa Alejandria of the Philippine Society of Microbiology.

Of the 16 new cases of the new COVID-19 variant in the Philippines, three have gotten well, three are asymptomatic, while 10 have mild symptoms. Twelve of them are from Bontoc, Mountain Province; one from La Trinidad, Benguet; and one from Calamba. Two others are overseas Filipinos who returned from Lebanon.

Contact tracing has been ongoing for these cases the moment their RT-PCR test results came back positive, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.

SOURCE: https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2021/1/23/UK-COVID-19-variant-philippines-december-10.html