Surge of COVID-19 infections may be due to Omicron variant — health experts

The swift increase of COVID-19 cases in the country may be due to the more transmissible Omicron variant, health experts said on Friday.

OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David said more than half of the latest genome sequencing data showed the presence of the Omicron variant, adding that it is a significant percentage showed an increase in respiratory virus infections in the country. 

“Based on latest genome sequencing about 60%, I think, of the samples were Omicron and that is even during the early part of the surge and we are of course waiting for more genome sequences to confirm if the Omicron is now even more dominant,” David said in a webinar.

“But during the early part of the surge, that is about 60% Omicron and 40% Delta roughly so I think we can safely say that significant percentage of the surge is due to Omicron,” he added.

Dr. Ted Herbosa, special adviser of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, said that “it is better to assume that it is Omicron.”

“When the surge is starting after Christmas, 600, 800, 1,000 [cases].. it is better to assume that it is Omicron. It doesn’t matter even if it is still a combination of Delta and Omicron, we will assume it is Omicron and the behavior and pattern of transmission is exactly what the numbers Professor Guido showed,” he said.

Herbosa added that the rapid increase of the COVID-19 cases in the country was the same trend in other countries in which the spike in cases was linked with the Omicron variant.

“It showed high reproductive numbers and everyday it was changing that exactly how Omicron spread in Europe, United Kingdom, and United States. I think it’s immaterial whether we get confirmation by the Philippine Genome Center next week. I think this is the Omicron variant surge,” he said.

The Department of Health (DOH) reported on Thursday that 29 more cases of the more transmissible Omicron coronavirus variant have been detected, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 43.

Of the new cases, the DOH said 10 were returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) while 19 were local cases with indicated addresses in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Fifteen of the local cases are still active, three have recovered, while two are still being verified.

The health experts underscored that the public should follow health protocols as COVID-19 cases are expected to increase in the following days.

“We are definitely seeing an increase in cases and we hope that at least the surge will peak soon. We continue to monitor this but it is too early to determine at this time. Again reminding everyone to observe minimum health standards and stay safe,” Guido said.

Herbosa also encouraged the public to get vaccinated to avoid becoming an “agent of transmission” or to stop COVID-19 positive individuals from further spreading the disease.

The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday logged 21,819 new COVID-19 cases increasing the nationwide COVID-19 tally to 2,910,664.

This is the highest since September 12, 2021 which reported 21,411 cases. On September 11, 2021, the Philippines logged a record-high 26,303 infections. -- Richa Noriega/BAP, GMA News