Health Usec. Maria Rosario Vergeire. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) debunked on Wednesday a document on social media claiming that the new P.3 variant of the SARS-CoV-2 is “extremely contagious.”
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire stressed that there is no evidence yet that the P.3 variant found in the Philippines is a “variant of concern” like those found in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil.
The variant, she said, remains to be a “variant under investigation” as data is still insufficient to determine its impact on public health.
“Nothing is true about that document. Tayo ay magpapalabas ng appropriate at tama na impormasyon sa inyong lahat once meron na tayong ganyang pag-aaral. Let us not make this into something na ikakapanic pa ng ating mga kababayan,” she said in an online press briefing.
(Nothing is true about that document. We will release appropriate and accurate information to everyone once the studies are completed. Let us not allow this be a source of panic to our countrymen.)
Vergeire also noted that dates in the document are inaccurate since it states data from 2020, whereas the P.3 variant was only recently detected through genome sequencing in over 100 samples.
On Tuesday, the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) also tagged as “fake news” the document claiming that the P.3 variant is highly contagious.
The PGC added that there is “no published study yet to establish the transmissibility of the P.3 variant.”
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