Delta subvariant not yet detected in Philippines , DOH says

A health worker looks at the lists during vaccination of minors at the Pasig City General Hospital on Oct. 15, 2021. The hospital is one of the sites for the pilot run of vaccinations for children ages 12 to 17 years old.
The STAR/Michael Varcas

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health has not detected Delta sublineage reported in Europe in its monitoring of COVID-19 cases in the country, the agency said Friday.

In a statement, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also said that experts are still looking into the potential impact of the Delta AY.4.2. sublineage on transmissibility.

She added that health authorities are monitoring 46 sublineages of the Delta variant, but “the particular Delta sublineage has not yet been detected among the COVID-19 positive samples sequenced in the country.”

Earlier this week, the Britain reported that it was monitoring a subvariant of the AY.4.2 variant, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman has said that there was no evidence it spreads more easily.

Francois Balloux, professor of computational systems biology at University College London, said AY.4.2 has two spike mutations found in other coronavirus variants and was first sequenced in April 2020.

He added: “AY.4.2 is still fairly low frequency, a 10 percent increase in its transmissibility could have caused only a small number of additional cases,” he added.

Vergeire for her part stressed that while investigation of the AY.4.2. sublineage is ongoing, “COVID-19 cases should be managed similarly as per current protocols.”

“Current evidence also showed that the presence or absence of a variant of interest or concern among cases do not dictate the appropriate clinical management,” she added.

Vergeire called on the public to continue adhering to minimum public health standards to curb transmission and slow down the appearance of mutations of the coronavirus. She also urged Filipinos to get fully vaccinated as protection against severe COVID-19.

The DOH on Monday reported 4,806 more COVID-19 infections, pushing the national caseload to 2,740,111. — Kristine Joy Patag with reports from Agence France Presse

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