DOH rejects naming COVID-19 variants after countries to avoid discrimination

The Department of Health (DOH) is veering away from the practice of naming coronavirus variants after the countries where they were first detected, saying this causes undue stigma against certain populations.

Anna Ong-Lim, expert-member of the DOH technical working group focusing on new coronavirus variants, confirmed that the mutations N501Y and E484K, the two mutations of concern that were detected in Central Visayas last month, are unique to the Philippines and have been assigned as the P.3 variant.

However, she said the DOH is doing away with calling it the “Philippine variant.”

“We want to do away with calling this as Philippine variant. It’s not an acceptable practice and we try to veer away from that,” Ong-Lim said during state-run PTV’s Laging Handa briefing.

“Kasi nga ayaw na natin ‘yung practice na ginagamit ang lugar to assign the name of the variant kasi nga medyo nakaka-cause ng discrimination, when in fact puwede naman siyang nakikita rin sa ibang lugar,” she said.

[We don’t like the practice of using names of places to a assign the name of a variant because it causes discrimination, when in fact this could be detected in other places.]

The DOH earlier confirmed that one case of COVID-19 had the P.1 variant which was first detected in Brazil, in a returning overseas Filipino from Western Visayas.

It also said the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant was found in 59 new COVID-19 cases while the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant was found in 32 additional cases.

Thirteen cases, meanwhile, were detected to have mutations of possible significance (E484K and N501Y mutations).

The University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center previously detected 85 cases with a unique set of mutations, including both E484K and N501Y mutations.

“Upon verification with the Phylogenetic Assignment of Named Global Outbreak Lineages (PANGOLIN), the said samples with these mutations have been reassigned to the P.3 variant, belonging to the B.1.1.28 lineage, to which the P.1 variant also belongs,” the DOH said.

“Thirteen additional cases were detected in this batch which bring the total P.3 variant cases in the country to 98,” it added.

“The DOH, UP-PGC, and UP-NIH emphasize that at present, the P.3 is NOT identified as a variant of concern as current available data are insufficient to conclude whether the variant will have significant public health implications,” it said. -MDM, GMA News