No indication of BA.2.12.1 local transmission yet —DOH adviser

There is no indication yet that there is already local transmission of the Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 in the country, although such remains "possible," an infectious disease expert said Monday.

"Sa ngayon walang indication 'yan kasi — I mean it's possible lalo na ang bilis manghawa ng Omicron," Dr. Edsel Salvana said at the Laging Handa briefing.

(As of now there's no indication of local transmission — I mean, it's possible, especially because of the high transmissibility of Omicron.)

"But usually para masabi namin na meron nang local transmission, lalo na 'yung tinatawag na sustained local transmission, tinitignan natin 'yung transmission chains niyan at makikita natin kung matre-trace ba natin,"  he added.

(But usually, for us to say that there is local transmission, especially sustained transmission, we look at the transmission chains to see if we can trace them.)

A member of the Department of Health-Technical Advisory Group, Salvana said the 12 cases of BA.2.12.1 in Palawan were clearly a single cluster while the two cases in Metro Manila are still being investigated.

"Sa ngayon pinag-aaralan pa po 'yan, but it's always safer to assume na nandiyan na 'yan kaya kinakailangan po patuloy 'yung pag iingat natin,” he said.

(We’re still looking into it right now, but it’s always safer to assume that it is present so we need to be vigilant.)

Cases

The Philippines on Sunday recorded this year's lowest COVID-19 active cases count at 2,908, with an additional 210 new cases.

The new COVID-19 infections brought the total caseload to 3,688,132, based on the Department of Health’s (DOH) website.

The 210 fresh COVID-19 cases were, however, an increase from the 175 cases logged on Saturday, May 14.

A total of 3,624,769 people have been counted as recoveries, while the death toll climbed to 60,455.

The regions with the most cases in the past two weeks were the National Capital Region (NCR) with 894 infections, Calabarzon with 283, and Central Luzon with 247.

Salvana said new cases of the Omicron subvariant have mild symptoms while others are asymptomatic.

"Truthfully, itong mga bagong cases ng BA.2.12.1 ay puro mild cases. In most cases nga asymtomatic. Kaya alam natin bagama't kinakailangan talaga we remain vigilant, 'yung vaccines continue to protect us," he said.

(In fact, the new case of the BA.2.12.1 is mostly mild. In most cases, asymptomatic. So though we know that we need to remain vigilant, the vaccines continue to protect us.)

No more lockdowns

Salvana also assured the public that the country will no longer experience a situation similar to the beginning of the pandemic due to the country’s high vaccination rate.

"Hindi na talaga tayo babalik doon sa 2020 na nagla-lockdown tayo dahil walang immunity 'yung populasyon. Sa ngayon mukhang manageable naman ito at kahit makalusot doon sa mga taong hindi pa nagpapa-booster, mayroon rin naman tayong mga gamot," he said.

(We're not going to experience a similar situation in 2020 where we were placed under lockdown because the population had no immunity then. Now it looks manageable, so even if some may test positive, we still have medicine.)

Malacañang on Sunday announced that Metro Manila and some other areas will remain under Alert Level 1 until the end of the month.

Salvana said areas that remained under alert level 2 may not have met the required vaccination rate.

"Kasi alam naman natin dapat at least 70% ng eligible population ay vaccinated and higher, mga 80%, para sa mga elderly natin," he said.

"And so I think that’s really the sticking point for a lot of the alert level 2 areas eh dahil hindi pa nila nakakamit yung level ng vaccination na puwede sila mag deescalate to alert level 1," he added. —KBK, GMA News