PGC: Almost all sequenced COVID-19 samples in January are Omicron

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/file photo

MANILA, Philippines — Almost all of the local COVID-19 samples gathered and processed by the Philippine Genome Center in January are found to be of the Omicron variant, an official said Thursday.

This is particularly true for samples from Metro Manila, PGC executive director Cynthia Saloma said.

“Starting this January, sa ating mga local samples, practically sila lahat Omicron,” she said in a Laging Handa public briefing.

(Starting this January, practically all of them are Omicron in our local cases.)

“Mayroon pang tayong mangilan ilan na Delta noong December pero itong January, particularly in the NCR, halos lahat sa kanila is Omicron na,” Saloma added.

(There were a few Delta cases in December, but this January, particularly in the NCR, almost all of them are Omicron.)

She said this pattern is also seen in other parts of the country, even though a few Delta cases are still recorded.

“It’s really essentially just Omicron starting 2022,” she added.

The highly transmissible variant Omicron is seen to be one of the primary causes of the unprecedented spike of COVID-19 infections in the country this month.

This is apart from the decreased compliance of the public with health protocols during the holiday season.

READ: DOH reports 618 Omicron cases; stealth sub-lineage found as early as Dec. 31