MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) has denied reports on social media that the UK variant, or any new variant of COVID-19, is already in the Philippines.
“The Department of Health and the Philippine Genome Center (PGC), to date, have not detected any UK variant, or any new variant of SARS-COV-2 in any of the positive samples tested,” the DOH said in a statement on Tuesday.
SARS-COV-2 is a virus that causes COVID-19.
“The DOH and PGC are closely working together in order to intensify on-going biosurveillance efforts,” the agency added.
The health department also called on the public to “refrain from disseminating unverified information which only serves to create panic and confusion.”
Currently, the Philippines has imposed a travel ban on the United Kingdom and several other countries due to the coronavirus strain from the UK, known as B117, known to be more infectious than the original variant.
Meanwhile, the country also imposed a travel ban on other countries such as Austria, where a South African variant of SARS-COV-2 was detected.