New coronavirus variants indirectly linked to surge in cases — DOH expert

The new coronavirus variants that were recently detected in the Philippines are “indirectly” linked to the surge in infections in parts of the country, the resident epidemiologist of the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday.

“One evidence that the variant could be causing this surge is we detected the variant just before [the] cases started to rise. There’s some indirect evidence na the variant is causing this surge,” Dr. John Wong said in a virtual briefing.

Wong said the country needs to sequence more samples from all regions to accurately determine the prevalence of the new variants.

The more transmissible United Kingdom and South Africa variants as well as two coronavirus mutations of concern have so far been detected by the Philippine Genome Center. 

Earlier on Friday, the DOH reported 52 more cases of the South Africa variant, 41 of whom are from Metro Manila, just as experts from the OCTA Research group flagged a rise in cases in the National Capital Region. 

“We have to consider that the variants are an important factor in driving the surge kasi this has happened also in other countries, countries that have had variants have also experienced surges,” Wong said.

He urged the public to protect themselves from COVID-19 by observing health protocols.

“Whether or not this is variant-driven, the fact that we’ve had increasing cases since February is sufficient enough to get people to do more,” Wong said.

“Our focus now should be… masking and ventilation. You wear a mask to protect yourself but also to protect other people. It’s sort of a form of herd immunity also. As more people wear masks, you protect the rest of the population.” — RSJ, GMA News