DOH: Still no PH case of Omicron

There is still no Omicron COVID-19 variant case detected in the Philippines, the Department of Health (DOH) reported on Thursday.

It said the results of latest whole genome sequencing of 48 samples conducted on Dec. 8 by the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) did not find any Omicron variant.

The results did not include the samples of three travelers from South Africa, Burkina Faso and Egypt who tested positive for COVID-19.

“The samples collected from the travelers from South Africa and Burkina Faso are in PGC for sequencing [and] the sample from the traveler from Egypt is currently being sent to PGC,” the DOH said.

Delta variant

Genome sequencing of the travelers’ samples is being done to determine if they have the Omicron variant.

The DOH said the three were among those who arrived in the country from Nov. 15 to Nov. 29.

According to DOH data, there were 253 travelers from South Africa, three from Burkina Faso and 541 from Egypt who arrived in the Philippines during the period.

Most of the variants detected by the PGC were of the Delta strain, DOH said, adding that the total Delta variant cases in the country was now 7,886.

Travel histories

“Of the 48 samples sequenced, 38 (79.17 percent) are Delta (B.1.617.2) variant cases; the rest had non-VOC lineages or had no lineages detected,” it noted.

Of the 38 Delta variant cases, 31 were local cases and seven were returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Two of the OFWs had travel histories from Turkey and one each from Jordan, Mexico, Netherlands, Panama and Peru.

The DOH said additional OFW cases and local cases from areas with infection clustering would be prioritized in the next genome sequencing run.

New cases

On Thursday, the DOH reported 562 new cases, higher than the 356 cases on Wednesday. It did not include data from two laboratories that were closed on Dec. 7.The latest count brought the total cases to 2,835,996.

Active cases, or the number of individuals who are still sick, stood at 12,169, of which 4,838 were mild, 2,177 severe and 446 in critical condition.

There were 882 people who recovered from the respiratory illness, bringing total recoveries to 2,773,891. The death toll climbed to 49,936 with 176 new fatalities.

Citing the test results of 33,295 people last Tuesday, the DOH said the country’s COVID-19 positivity rate remained at 1.6 percent and within the World Health Organization’s positivity target rate of below 5 percent.

The DOH also reported in its Dec. 9 bulletin that 26 percent of intensive care unit beds and 14 percent of mechanical ventilators across the country were in use.