Still no confirmed Omicron cases in PH – DOH
The Philippine Genome Center has not found any case of the Omicron COVID-19 variant from the 629 samples that they have recently processed, said the Department of Health.
However, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that samples from a COVID-positive traveler from South Africa and 11 returning OFWs are still undergoing genomic sequencing. The results are expected to be released on Wednesday.
In a media briefing, Vergeire stated that Delta remains to be the dominant variant in the country with 7,848 cases or over 40% of the total sequenced samples.
Despite this absence of the latest South-African variant, the Philippines remains on high alert and has banned flights from 14 countries with reported Omicron cases.
For their part, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that they are still unsure whether Omicron is more contagious and severe than other variants of concern.
Preliminary evidence suggests that the new strain may bring an increased risk of reinfection.
