THE Department of Health yesterday reported three more cases of the Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 as it confirmed there is already a local transmission of the highly transmissible variant in the country.
Health Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire quickly added, though, there is still no community transmission of the subvariant, which is known to have more mutations compared to the original Omicron strain.
Local transmission means that local cases have been detected which cannot be epidemiologically linked to cases with significant international travel history. On the other hand, a community transmission refers to a large cluster of infections in a community whose link to each other cannot be easily traced.
Vergeire said a careful assessment of data provided by the University of the Philippines- Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC), UP-PGC Visayas and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and regional and local epidemiology and surveillance units confirmed the local transmission of the BA.2.12.1 subvariant.
“We are confirming that there is local transmission in specific areas of the country but there is still no community transmission,” Vergeire told reporters in an online briefing.
“Nangangahulugan po na ang mga kaso na na-detect natin ay wala na pong kaugnayan sa mga kaso na nagmula sa labas ng bansa ngunit makikita pa rin po ang linkages ng mga detected cases (It means that the cases that we have detected are not connected with cases from outside the country though we can still see linkages in the detected cases),” Vergeire said.
The DOH official said 17 cases of the Omicron subvariant have so far been detected in the National Capital Region, Puerto Princesa City in Palawan and in Western Visayas.
The three new cases from Western Visayas were from Iloilo City, which includes a vaccinated returning overseas Filipino from the United States and two local cases, one of whom is fully vaccinated. The vaccination status of the third case is still being verified.
The 14 other BA.2.12.1 cases were reported by the DOH last week — two in Metro Manila and 12 in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan.
Vergeire said 14 of the cases are asymptomatic.
On the other hand, Vergeire said 39 close contacts were traced from the two cases in Metro Manila. She said they have been placed under quarantine and all are currently asymptomatic.
“We have a total of 39 close contacts for these two individuals from NCR, mga colleagues nila, mga officemate sila. Sila po ay nai-quarantine na. Lahat po sila ay asymptomatic (They are colleagues, officemates. They are already in quarantine and all are asymptomatic),” she said.
Vergeire assured the public there is no reason to panic as there is still no community transmission of the subvariant.
“Hindi pa ho ito community transmission kung saan malawakan na ang pagkalat kung kaya’t hindi na matre-trace ang linkages ng bawat kaso (This is still not a community transmission wherein the infection is already so widespread that we cannot trace the linkages of each case),” she also said.
“There is no need to panic. But everybody should do their part such as strictly adhering to the minimum public health and safety protocols,” Vergeire said.
Vergeire said those who will experience COVID symptoms, such as fever, coughs, cold and itchy throat, should immediately isolate and contact their barangay officials and health authorities.
Those who are exposed to infected patients should also go on quarantine and not wait for test results before isolating themselves.
“Pinapaalala din po namin sa ating publiko ang pagpapairal ng disiplina sa pagsunod sa minimum public health standards, lalo’t higit dapat magpabakuna at tumanggap na ng booster shots upang manatiling protektado (We are reminding the public to adhere to the minimum public health standards. We should also get vaccinated and get our booster shots to remain protected,” she said
“Don’t take risks, that is one of the keys to prevent this,” she added.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) yesterday said COVID-19 remains as one of the leading causes of death in the first two months of 2022.
The PSA said registered deaths due to COVID-19 accounted for a total of 3,007 deaths or 6.9 percent of the total registered deaths from January to February 2022.
By classification, COVID-19 with virus identified and COVID-19 virus not identified were both included in the 20 leading causes of death.
COVID-19 with virus identified was the sixth leading cause of death in the country with 2,377 cases or 5.4 percent of the total deaths.
Meanwhile, registered deaths due to COVID-19 with virus not identified accounted for 630 or 1.4 percent of the total deaths, making it the 16th leading cause of death.
The total COVID-19 deaths of 3,007 was just below that of those caused by ischemic heart diseases (9,122), cerebrovascular diseases (4,351) and neoplasms (3,881).
“Figures in this release, specifically for deaths due to COVID-19, may differ from the one released by the Department of Health (DOH) because the figures in this release were obtained from the certificates of death particularly the descriptions written on the medical certificate portion therein as reviewed by the health officer of the local government unit concerned. On the other hand, the figures released by the DOH were obtained through a surveillance system,” the PSA said.
The PSA added that the figures for deaths due to COVID-19 refer to both confirmed and probable cases as of registration.
COVID-19-virus identified is used when COVID-19 is confirmed by a laboratory test, while COVID-19-virus not identified is used for suspected or probable cases as well as those clinically-epidemiologically diagnosed COVID-19 cases where testing was not completed or inconclusive. — With Angela Celis
