PH detects 2 cases of Indian variant

THE Philippines on Tuesday reported its first two cases of the B1617 strain that was first detected in India.

Two Filipino workers who arrived in April were found positive of the Indian coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) strain, the Department of Health (DoH) said.

The variant was said to have driven the surge in cases in India that led to a record number of daily infections and deaths.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the first passenger came from Oman on April 10 and was swabbed on April 15. He was isolated in a hotel in the National Capital Region and recovered on April 26.

He then went home to quarantine until May 10 in his hometown in Region 12 (Soccsksargen). His last RT-PCR — reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction — test on May 3 showed a negative result. He is now asymptomatic.

The second case is a seafarer who came from the United Arab Emirates. He arrived on April 19 and was swabbed on April 24.

He was taken to an isolation facility in Clark and recovered on May 6. The person is currently asymptomatic.

DoH Technical Advisory Group member Dr. Edsel Maurice Salvana gave assurances that these two individuals are no longer infectious.

“There is no evidence that it lasts longer than the other variants, so right now, based on what we know, our protocols should still be good in terms of determining they are non-infectious because on the eighth day, hindi na sila nagse-shed ng virus (they do not shed the virus),” Salvana said.

Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go said the entry into the country of the Indian strain is alarming, but he called on the public not to panic.

“Nakakabahala ang balitang kinumpirma ng DoH ngayong araw na nakapasok na sa Pilipinas ang Indian variant ng Covid-19. Kamakailan, sinabi rin ng WHO na ‘variant of concern’ ito dahil posibleng mas nakakahawa at mas malubha ang epekto nito sa tao (the news that the Indian variant is here is alarming. The WHO recently said it is a variant of concern),” Go said.

“Huwag po tayong magpanic dahil ginagawa ng gobyerno ang lahat upang matugunan ito. Gayunpaman, huwag din tayong magkumpyansa (Do not panic because the government is doing everything to address this concern. But do not be complacent either,” the senator said.

“While the government is on top of the situation, the cooperation of everyone is crucial in order for us to overcome these challenges,” he added.

Dr. Alethea de Guzman, director of the DoH Epidemiology Bureau, said because these patients were quarantined and isolated upon arrival, they do not have any immediate close contacts.

Aside from the two cases of the Indian variant in the country, the sampling run had also discovered 23 samples with the B1351 or the South African variant while four had been positive from the B117 variant or the UK variant.

Another case, who had a travel history from India, yielded an A lineage that is not a variant of concern or of investigation.

De Guzman said out of the 5,952 samples sequenced for the variants, 34 percent had lineages with a variant of concern, with 15 regions having a confirmed local case of the B1351 variant while 12 had local cases of the B117 variant.

Only 299 or 18 percent of the 2,034 samples with variants came from international travelers.

Dr. John Wong of the Technical Working Group on Data Analytics said with the current sampling right now, it is still not yet accurate to pinpoint the geographical representation of the variants as not all regions have submitted recent or enough samples for sequencing.

Vergeire said the detection of the B1617 variant will be a major factor in discussions with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases if the current travel ban to India and other countries will be extended or expanded.

Meanwhile, the sequencing for the 12 Filipino seafarers that were tested positive for Covid-19 aboard the M/V Athens Bridge will be subjected to a special run.

On Tuesday, the country posted 4,734 new infections, its lowest since March 17, 2021, pushing the total active cases to 56,752, while 7,837 have recovered from the virus.
Total overall cases is 1.113 million.