DOH: COVID-19 surge in Bicol not caused by variants

LEGAZPI CITY—The Department of Health (DOH) regional office on Monday (April 26) sought to allay fears that variants of SARS Cov2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, had been spreading in Bicol.

At a news briefing, Dr. Ferchito Avelino, DOH Bicol assistant director, said there are no cases involving other coronavirus variants in the region except for that of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who returned to Camarines Sur from virus epicenter Manila last January.

Reports that coronavirus variants were triggering the surge in new COVID-19 cases had alarmed Bicol residents.

Avelino said the case of the OFW returning to Camarines Sur, who had tested positive for the more contagious UK variant or B.1.1.7, had been managed and well handled.

At least 160 samples from people who had close contact with the OFW had been sent to Metro Manila as of April 14 for genome sequencing to determine the presence of any coronavirus variant. Results would be known in up to four weeks, Avelino said.

The DOH, the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC), and the University of the Philippines-National Institute of Health (UP-NIH) report said Bicol was not on the list of regions with confirmed cases of these variants that had been found elsewhere—UK, South African and P.3.

The report said as of April 20, 266 cases of the UK variant were found in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Calabarzon, National Capital Region, Central Luzon, Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Caraga.

Cases of the variants were also found in returning OFWs and 67 other cases.

Cases of the South African variant were also found in CAR, Ilocos Region, Caraga and OFWs. At least 73 cases are being verified.

The P.3 variant had been found in Calabarzon, Caraga, OFWs and two cases being verified.

TSB