DOH adviser bats for vaccination, ventilation vs. Omicron variant

The Omicron variant of COVID-19 has yet to be detected in the Philippines but a member of the Department of Health (DOH)-Technical Advisory Group on Monday suggested ways on how to control the spread of the mutated virus.

At President Rodrigo Duterte's Talk to the People on Monday night, Dr. Edsel Salvana pushed for ramped up vaccinations against the coronavirus, better ventilation indoors, and effective border controls.

Salvana said the Omicron variant may be less susceptible to vaccines in preventing infection but the efficacy of vaccines "will not be zero."

"Vaccines will still protect against severe infection," Salvana said.

The country is in the middle of a three-day national vaccination campaign from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1. Over 500,000 individuals received COVID-19 vaccine doses on Monday.

"'Yung ventilation parang nangyari po sa Delta, kapag nakakulog baka mas madaling matransmit ang virus.  We need to make sure places are well-ventilated," Salvana said.

He also said Filipinos must still follow the minimum public health standards.

"'Yung ginagawa po natin ngayon they will all work pa rin, 'yung face mask, face shield, 'yung physical distance," Salvana said.

Salvana also mentioned border controls in his presentation.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said the authorities had tightened border controls to monitor incoming travelers as a way to curb the possible spread of the variant.

"We have instituted border controls but our the border in the southeast borders yun yung dapat bantayan po kasi kung mayroong mga pumasok na  Filipinos from Sabah, from Malaysia or Indonesia at hindi po dumaan sa port or seaport, airport e yun talaga kailangang bantayan," Año said.

"And through the PNP (Philippine National Police), Armed Forces (of the Philippines) and Coast Guard, maglalabas po kami ng mas mahigpit na direktiba para mas bantayan ang borders natin," he added.

Año said authorities would reimpose the mandatory wearing of face shields if alert levels would be raised due to the variant.

"Nakita po natin na bumaba din po ang number but of course kapag pumasok ang Omicron, at tumaas ang alert level i-impose po natin ulit," Año said.

"Yung face shield po parang payong. Kapag malakas ang ulan nagpapayong po tayo pero kapag walang ulan puwedeng itabi ang payong... so andun na rin po siya," he added.

The Philippines removed mandatory face shields for alert level systems 1, 2 and 3. For areas under Alert Level 4, the local government units have the discretion to impose the face shield policy while it is mandatory for Alert Level 5 areas. -NB, GMA News