DOH: No need to panic about new coronavirus variant detected in Vietnam

FILE PHOTO: Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire. INQUIRER file photo / EDWIN BACASMAS

MANILA, Philippines — There is no need to panic about the new coronavirus variant detected in Vietnam that is a combination of the Indian and UK COVID-19 variants which spreads quickly by air, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.

DOH Undersecretary and spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire noted that the World Health Organization (WHO) has yet to receive full details on the said variant. She said the WHO is still awaiting the full report on the variant in order to provide guidance to member-countries.

“For now, we still do not have sufficient evidence for this. Kailangan natin pag-igtingin pa rin ang pagpapatupad ng (We should intensify the implementation of) minimum health protocols,” she told an online press briefing.

“Whatever variants that there may be sa ating bansa, kung tayo ay strictly nagpapatupad ng health protocols natin at tayo ay nagpabakuna, tayo ay protektado. Alalahanin natin ‘yan,” said Vergeire.

(Whatever variants there may be in our country, we are protected if we are strictly observing health protocols and are vaccinated. Let us remember that.)

“Hindi po natin kailangan magpanic dahil sa balitang ito. Paigtingin natin ang pagpapatupad ng ating health protocols and we will be protected from any of these variants,” she added.

(We do not need to panic because of this news. Let us intensify the observance of health protocols and we will be protected from any of these variants.)

Authorities in Vietnam earlier said the new variant has combined characteristics of the two variants first found in India and the UK.

“That the new one is an Indian variant with mutations that originally belong to the UK variant is very dangerous,” said Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long as quoted by Reuters.

According to Long, laboratory cultures of the new variant showed the virus replicated itself very quickly, which may explain the many COVID-19 cases that had appeared in different parts of Vietnam in a short period of time.

JE