(Photo from the Department of Health)
MANILA, Philippines — Four of the eight unvaccinated Filipino travelers who arrived in the country from China have tested positive for COVID-19 Omicron subvariants, according to Department of Health (DOH) director Alethea De Guzman in a media forum on Friday.
China has been experiencing COVID-19 surges driven by the Omicron subvariants. The four Filipinos confirmed to have contracted the subvariants arrived with four other unvaccinated travelers who also tested positive for COVID-19.
READ: 8 unvaccinated Filipinos from China get infected with COVID-19
“Yung nakita natin, tatlo doon ay lumabas na BF.7 at ang isa ay BA 5.2, so ito ay hindi mga bagong variants. Dati na natin ito nade-detect,” said De Guzman, who is a director at the DOH’s Epidemiology Bureau.
(From what we have seen, three contracted the subvariant BF.7, while one contracted BA 5.2. These are not new variants. We have detected these before).
However, according to the World Health Organization’s website, Omicron subvariants BF.7 and BA 5.2 dominated local infections in China.
READ: WHO urges travelers to wear masks as new COVID variant spreads
De Guzman added that they have yet to determine if the remaining four Filipinos contracted Omicron subvariants.
“Siguro yung i-note natin na even though walo yung nag-positive sa PCR, apat lamang yung ay na-assign tayo na lineage, so bakit hindi lahat may in-assign na lineages ano? Minsan yung pagka-transport na dedecay yung quality ng specimen kaya hindi natin siya ma-sequence,” said the director.
(Maybe we should note that even though eight have tested positive in the PCR, we were only able to assign four lineages, so why were not all of them assigned? Sometimes the quality of the specimen decays during transport and we cannot sequence it).
De Guzman, however, said that the Omicron infections are not unusual.
“Yung mga nase-sequence natin, mostly omicron sila. It’s either the original omicron or at least, subvariants. And you know, that’s expected kasi ito nga yung prevelent o tinatawag nga natin, predominant na variant globally, so it’s also expected that it’s the predominant variant locally,” said De Guzman.
(Those we have sequenced were mostly Omicron. It is either the original Omicron or, at least, subvariants, and you know, that’s expected because this is prevalent, or what we call, the predominant variant globally, so it’s also expected that it’s the predominant variant locally).