Hard to say coronavirus mutations caused surge in Central Visayas —Duque

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Friday said it was hard to conclude that the surge in cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Central Visayas was caused by two recently detected mutations of concern.

Duque said a number of factors may have contributed to the “steep” rise in infections noted by the Department of Health (DOH) Epidemiology Bureau.

“Mahirap mong iugnay ‘yan nang gano’n na lamang or ng direktamenteng pag-uugnay, kasi marami rin tayong ibang factors na dapat alamin o obserbahan,” he said during a virtual briefing.

Duque pointed out that Cebu has been under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), the least stringent category.

“Nag-MGCQ ang Region 7 so tumaas ang mobility ng mga tao. Kung tumaas ang mobility, siyempre ‘yung contact rate tumaas din, ‘yung transmission rate ay tumaas din,” he said.

“‘Yan [sa] tingin ko ang posibleng dahilan pero puwedeng hindi lang siya ang dahilan. Puwedeng maraming dahilan,” Duque added.

Research Institute for Tropical Medicine Director Dr. Celia Carlos said more samples from Central Visayas will undergo genome sequencing to detect other cases with that may have the mutations of concern.

DOH Region 7 on Thursday said the mutations E484K and N501Y were detected in 31 of 50 samples from Cebu that were sequenced by the Philippine Genome Center.

“To have a clearer picture of the situation, we need to sequence more samples from more areas of Region 7 before we draw conclusions,” Carlos said.

Meanwhile, Duque said the detection of mutations of concern in Central Visayas will not affect Metro Manila’s shift to MGCQ in March. 

“It will not affect it because [the] National Capital Region is a different region but we have to be really careful as we further relax our community quarantine status from GCQ to MGCQ,” he said. — MDM/RSJ, GMA News