DOH: No evidence new virus variant from UK makes COVID more severe

There is no evidence yet that the new variant found in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland of the virus that causes COVID-19 increases the disease's severity,  Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Wednesday.

Duque was referring to SARS-CoV-2 VUI 202012/01 (Variant Under Investigation, year 2020, month 12, variant 01), which already prompted the Inter-Agency Task Force headed by him to ban travelers from the United Kingdom from entering the Philippines from December 24 to 31.

SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes the coronavirus disease 2019.

“So far, this (SARS-CoV-2 VUI 202012/01) increases [COVID-19] transmission [rate] by 0.4 percent but there is no evidence yet showing that this can increase severity or virulence [of COVID-19] nor affect the efficacy of the anti-COVID-19 vaccine,” Duque said.

Duque, however, assured the public that authorities are on full alert so as to prevent the variant from reaching Philippine shores, and that experts are already working to determine the comprehensive profile of the new virus variant.

“We have the capability to detect this. The Philippine Genome Center, the RITM (Research Institute for Tropical Medicine), and the UP-NIH (National Institute of Health) will be having a conference, and I am confident they will be able to give us a detailed characterization of this new variant,” Duque said.

“Pero wala po tayong ganun [rito] at hopefully hindi magkaroon,” Duque added.

On top of the ban on travelers from the UK, the Philippine government also ordered individuals coming to the country from the UK -- expected to arrive before December 24 -- to undergo a mandatory completion of the 14-day quarantine at the Athlete’s Village in New Clark City regardless of their RT-PCR test results.

Duque justified this policy, saying this is a necessary precautionary measure since COVID-19 infection is not detected immediately all the time.

“Kailangan po nilang kumpletuhin [ang 14-day quarantine kahit negative sa RT-PCR test] para makasiguro tayo. Kasi minsan may mga test na false negative dahil maaga na-swab at iyong mas mataas na viral load ay lalabas na lamang sa bandang dulo [ng quarantine period],” Duque said.

Duque then said that the IATF will continue to assess the situation and possibly issue a policy direction by December 28 or 29, alongside recommendations on a possible new community quarantine status.

So far, the Philippines has recorded 462,815 COVID-19 infections. Of this number, 429,419 have recovered while 9,021 died. The number of active cases  is at 24,375.  —LBG, GMA News