MASS TESTING Residents of Bontoc, Mountain Province, undergo the government’s free mass swab testing on Jan. 28 at the provincial plaza following the surge of COVID-19 infections that included the more contagious UK variant. —PHOTO FROM BONDOC FACEBOOK PAGE
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday confirmed the detection of more cases of the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 COVID-19 variants that were first detected in the United Kingdom, and South Africa, respectively.
In a statement, the DOH said 46 more cases of the UK variant and 62 additional South African variant cases were detected.
Aside from this, the DOH also detected six more cases of the P.3 COVID-19 variant.
With the additional infections, the Philippines now has 223 cases of the UK COVID-19 variant, and 152 cases of the South African variant.
UK variants
Of the new UK variant cases, 36 are local cases from the National Capital Region (NCR), two are cases involving returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs), and eight cases are currently being verified if they are local or ROF cases, the DOH said.
“The two ROFs detected have the following regions as their indicated addresses – Cagayan Valley and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM),” the DOH said.
South African variants
Meanwhile, the DOH said of the new South African variant cases, 43 are local cases and 19 are being verified if they are local or ROF cases.
“Of the 43 local cases, 41 are from NCR, and two are from Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon),” the DOH said. “Based on the case line list, 60 cases are still active and two have recovered.”
P.3 variant cases
Meanwhile, the DOH said that of the six new P.3 cases, four of them were identified in NCR, while two are still being verified if these are local cases or ROFs.
Despite the additional cases, the DOH maintained that the P.3 variant is not a “variant of concern” as current data is still insufficient.
“The DOH urges the public to stay at home unless extremely necessary and remember to avoid the three C’s (Closed spaces, Crowded places, and Close contact settings). With the upcoming Holy Week, the DOH encourages everyone to avoid large congregations and practice religious activities at home,” the department urged.
On Friday, the DOH reported 7,103 new COVID-19 cases, making it the highest tally recorded since the pandemic reached the country. The Philippines’ total COVID-19 cases are at 648,066.
Due to the rise in COVID-19 cases, the OCTA Research group proposed the implementation of a “hard general community quarantine” (hard GCQ) or a “soft modified enhanced community quarantine” (MECQ).