Keep masks as shield against new Omicron strain – DOH
STILL A THREAT | Commuters still opt to wear face masks as protection from COVID-19 despite the recent lifting of the public health emergency. (Photo by RICHARD A. REYES / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — Even in the absence of a public health emergency, the Department of Health (DOH) “strongly recommended” on Tuesday that people keep wearing face masks to help prevent the spread of diseases, including COVID-19.
In a statement, the DOH urged the public to continue to adhere to “our layers of protection, such as wearing face masks, isolating when sick, and ensuring good airflow.”
People were also urged to raise “their risk-tolerance against COVID-19” and update their vaccine with booster shots to remain protected against the disease.
The DOH made the recommendation after a new Omicron strain, the EG.5 subvariant, was detected in the country last week and following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s lifting of COVID-19 as a public health emergency on July 21.
The latest biosurveillance report of the DOH from July 14 to 25 showed 10 new cases linked to EG.5, a sublineage of Omicron XBB.1.9.2, which were discovered in positive individuals whose samples underwent genome sequencing.
New subvariant
The World Health Organization classified EG.5, currently circulating in 49 nations, as a variant under monitoring on July 19. According to the DOH, there is no current evidence that points to EG.5 as more severe compared to the original Omicron variant.
“Limited information is available … as to the characteristics of the new COVID-19 strain in terms of [its] transmissibility, immune evasion and ability to cause severe infections,” it noted.
In the same biosurveillance report, Omicron subvariants XBB.2.3 and XBB.1.16 were identified as the dominant strains in circulation in the country as they accounted for more than half, or 87 out of the 160 samples sequenced by the Baguio General Hospital Medical Center and the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center.
