No evidence that new virus strain can worsen COVID-19 – DOH

There is no proof yet that the new strain of COVID-19 detected in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland could worsen the respiratory disease, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Wednesday.

Duque was pertaining to SARS-CoV-2 VUI 202012/01 (Variant Under Investigation, year 2020, month 12, variant 01). The new strain already prompted the Inter-Agency Task Force to impose a travel ban on passengers coming from the United Kingdom from December 24 to 31.

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SARS-CoV-2 is a virus that causes COVID-19.

“So far, this (SARS-CoV-2 VUI 202012/01) increases [COVID-19] transmission [rate] by 0.4 percent but there is no evidence yet showing that this can increase severity or virulence [of COVID-19] nor affect the efficacy of the anti-COVID-19 vaccine,” Duque said.

However, Duque assured the public that the Philippines is capable of detecting the new strain and that experts are already working to identify its profile.

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“We have the capability to detect this. The Philippine Genome Center, the RITM (Research Institute for Tropical Medicine), and the UP-NIH (National Institute of Health) will be having a conference, and I am confident they will be able to give us a detailed characterization of this new strain,” Duque said.

“Pero wala po tayong ganun [rito] at hopefully hindi magkaroon,” Duque added.

No evidence that new virus strain can worsen COVID-19 – DOH

Aside from the travel ban, the government also required individuals coming from the UK that would arrive before December 24 to complete the 14-day quarantine at the Athlete’s Village in New Clark City regardless of their RT-PCR test results.

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“Kailangan po nilang kumpletuhin [ang 14-day quarantine kahit negative sa RT-PCR test] para makasiguro tayo. Kasi minsan may mga test na false negative dahil maaga na-swab at iyong mas mataas na viral load ay lalabas na lamang sa bandang dulo [ng quarantine period],” Duque said.

Duque justified this measure, noting that COVID-19 infection is not detected immediately all the time.

The DOH chief added the IATF would continue to monitor the situation and possibly release a policy on December 28 or 29, together with recommendations on a possible new community quarantine status.

As of December 23, the Department of Health has recorded 1,196 additional cases of COVID-19. Meanwhile, there were 564 recoveries and 27 died of the disease.