OCTA: New COVID-19 variants most likely ‘outcompeted’ old ones

MANILA, Philippines — New and more transmissible variants of COVID-19 have most likely “outcompeted” the old variants from 2020, causing the increase of cases in different areas, the OCTA Research group said Friday.

“Of course ang paniwala natin, ‘yung pagtaas ng bilang ng kaso sa ibang mga lungsod, driven by variants na ‘yan,” he told ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.

(Of course, we believe that the increase of cases in the provinces are driven by the variants.)

“’Yung dating variants natin na pumasok noong 2020, most likely na-outcompete na sila so ang prevailing virus na kumakalat ngayon talaga ay ‘yung mga variant, ‘yung UK variant, South African variant, kaya medyo mabilis ang hawaan,” he added.

(The old variants that entered the country in 2020 were most likely outcompeted so the prevailing virus spreading now is from the other variants, the UK and South African variants.)

According to David, OCTA has identified the cities of Cagayan De Oro, Davao, and Iloilo as “areas of serious concern” for its COVID-19 situation as he described the increase of cases in Mindanao as “concerning.”

David said it is possible that other areas of serious concern would be placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

“Well, possible na ilagay sa ECQ ‘yung ibang serious concern, for example Iloilo City, baka possible na ilagay. Pero of course, may economic considerations din naman sila,” he said.

(Well, you can place areas of serious concern under ECQ, for example Iloilo City. But of course there are economic considerations for this.)

“Tingin natin sufficient naman sa mga provinces na usually under MECQ kasi mas mabilis nilang napapababa ang cases nila,” he added.

(We think MECQ is sufficient for other provinces because they can easily lower the number of cases.)

Meanwhile, David noted Metro Manila was continuously on a downward trend over the previous weeks but has seen a slight upward trend in cases in the past week.

/MUF