Is PH ready for Indian variant?

MANILA, Philippines — A doctor who strongly advocates ivermectin use to treat and prevent COVID-19 warned on Thursday that the Philippines had less than two months to prepare for the same high number of deaths and infections that India is experiencing.

The government needs to immediately come up with a contingency plan for “when the Indian variant [of the coronavirus] hits us,” said Dr. Raffy Castillo, who took part in the much-criticized distribution of ivermectin in Quezon City last week.

“Do we have enough supply of oxygen? Will it be sufficient for those who will not have space in the hospitals? Are we preparing additional tents, in case cases go back up to 15,000 to 20,000 in a single day?” Castillo, a columnist for Inquirer, said in a phone interview.

The general practitioner, a trustee of the International Society of Hypertension and member of the Professional Regulatory Board of Medicine, said he had also relayed his concerns to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.

The variant first identified in India, B.1.617, is not yet a variant of concern but is a variant under investigation, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

This variant consists of two “mutations of concern” on the spike protein of the virus which more easily allows it to enter the human body.

Castillo urged the government to “move away” from a mass vaccination model and go for “home aid kits,” which include the controversial antiparasitic drug ivermectin. “I propose targeted vaccination but not mass vaccination for all, and employ other means of cutting transmission,” he said.

He said the government should consider only giving vaccines to those in the National Capital Region and the four nearby provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal, but not for people aged 20 to 40 years old.

Health reform advocate Dr. Tony Leachon, a former adviser to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, said the government was already employing targeted vaccination.

“This template is shown to be effective in the US, UK, and Israel, as well as in Indonesia,” Leachon said in a phone interview.

Only playbook

The country’s vaccination efforts cannot be described as “mass vaccination” because there were not enough vaccines, to begin with, he said.

Should the Indian variant enter the Philippines, the country will likely go on lockdown again to control any possible surge, Leachon said.

“There is only one playbook. If in two months the variant from India makes it here, we will do the same. We will fight it off with the same science-based principle that has been effective in lowering cases following surges before,” he said.

He disagreed with Castillo’s proposal to distribute home care kits that include ivermectin because it was unregistered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), “so we cannot and should not promote that.”

“I stand behind the position statement of the revered medical societies of the country,” he said.

On Wednesday, 41 medical groups and societies warned against the use of ivermectin and said those who persist in prescribing the drug could face legal consequences. The FDA and the Department of Health (DOH) have also warned the public that there is insufficient basis to prove ivermectin’s efficacy against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes severe respiratory disease COVID-19.

Under 8K new infections

The DOH on Thursday said new infections numbered less than 8,000 for the fourth straight day. The 6,637 cases brought the country’s total caseload to 1,080,172.

It said 6,091 patients have recovered, raising the total number of survivors to 999,011. The 191 deaths reported increased the death toll to 17,991.

The deaths and recoveries left 63,170 active cases. Of the total, 94.3 percent are mild, 1.9 percent asymptomatic, 1.2 percent critical, 1.6 percent severe and 1.03 percent moderate.

The DOH also said it was preparing for the transfer of at least two critical cases among 21 Filipino crew members of the MV Athens Bridge, which was allowed to dock in Manila after the ship was refused entry in Vietnam.

It will also assess whether the ship could serve as a quarantine facility for the rest of the crew who do not need hospital care.

“Rest assured that appropriate care will be provided to those who need it while upholding the proper protocols,” the DOH said in a statement.

It was earlier reported by the National Task Force Against COVID-19 that 12 crew members were infected.