Omicron now shows up in 90% of samples sequenced – Duque
Syringes with needles are seen in front of a displayed stock graph and words “Omicron SARS-CoV-2” in this illustration taken, Nov. 27, 2021. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)
MANILA, Philippines — The highly contagious Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus has continued to show up in most of the samples that have undergone genome sequencing, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said in the taped weekly briefing with President Rodrigo Duterte that aired late Monday night.
“Almost more than 90 percent of Omicron variants are detected through whole-genome sequencing,” Duque said in Filipino.
This is 30 percent higher than the 60 percent that Duque reported last week when he also stated that Omicron had already surpassed Delta as the dominant variant in COVID-19 cases in the country.
However, on Tuesday, Jan. 11, the Philippine Genome Center said that it would still have to verify if the highly contagious Omicron had replaced Delta as the most dominant coronavirus variant in the Philippines.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization country representative, Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, meanwhile warned that the Omicron variant would soon be predominant in the Philippines, replacing the now dominant Delta variant.
Earlier, the Department of Health reported 37,070 new infections, bringing total active cases to 290,938.
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