MANILA, Philippines — There is not enough evidence that would show that the more infectious coronavirus variant first identified in the United Kingdom is spreading further in the Philippines, the Department of Health said a day after it reported 19 new cases of the variant called B.1.1.7.
“There is still no sufficient evidence to say that it is spreading or that its transmission has reached that level,” DOH spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said partly in Filipino during a briefing aired on state-run People’s Television.
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“That’s why we are continuously studying and we are continuously monitoring,” she added.
Of the 19 new B.1.1.7 cases, three have no known links to each other despite them hailing from the same region.
The DOH said it is also still verifying whether six of the new cases are local cases or returning overseas Filipinos.
While the DOH reported the country’s first B.1.1.7 case on January 13, it admitted that the new variant had been in the country nearly a month before their announcement, as a sample collected on December 10 tested positive for the mutated virus.
Despite the lingering threat of the new variants, the government has relaxed travel restrictions on foreigners and has refused to impose a new travel ban.
The DOH said that apart from the B.1.1.7 variant, no other variant of concern has been detected in the Philippines.
Preliminary estimates find the B.1.1.7 variant between 30% and 70% more contagious than other forms of the virus. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there is “some evidence” that it could be deadlier, but local experts affiliated with the DOH said it is still premature to conclude this.
Experts warned that an increase in the transmission of the new variant will lead to more people getting infected and sick, which can overwhelm the country's health system anew. — Xave Gregorio