Palace closely monitoring more transmissible COVID-19 variant from South Africa

Malacañang said Friday that it is closely monitoring developments on the reported new coronavirus variant from South Africa that is believed to be more transmissible.

"We are monitoring...intently monitoring the situation. Genomic surveillance is still being done and we are always in touch with the World Health Organization (WHO) and waiting for its advisory if this variant is a variant of interest or a variant of concern," acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said.

"But rest assured that we are monitoring this intently," Nograles added.

The Department of Health earlier said it is still waiting for word from the WHO regarding the new COVID-19 variant.

The B.1.1.529 variant was found to have at least 10 mutations compared to two for Delta or three for Beta, and is being blamed for a surge of infections in South Africa.

Immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval, for her part, said they are ready to adjust COVID-19 quarantine protocols in light of the new variant if the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) deems it necessary.

"In the event that a variant of concern emerges, we will be ready. We have a system in place and we can immediately implement it," Sandoval said.

"We have sufficient manpower to address this," Sandoval added.

The Philippines has allowed the entry of fully vaccinated foreign travelers against COVID-19 from green list or low risk countries for COVID-19 transmission from December 1 to December 15 amid the decreasing number of daily COVID-19 cases.

This policy, provided under IATF Resolution 150-A issued on Friday, November 26, includes foreign tourists.

Sandoval has also said that 99 more Immigration officials will be deployed to prepare for possible influx of foreign travelers who will be allowed entry to the country for leisure purposes for the first time since the pandemic struck in March 2020.—AOL, GMA News