MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH), the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC), and the University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH) on Saturday confirmed the detection of the first case of Brazilian coronavirus variant or the P.1 variant.

In their joint report the DOH, UP-PGC, and UP-NIH said the P.1 variant that was detected on a Returning Overseas Filipino (ROF) from Brazil with an address in Western Visayas.  Additional information about the case is currently being investigated.

“The P.1 variant was first detected in Japan by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) among four (4) travelers from Brazil,” the report said.

“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is evidence to suggest that transmissibility and the ability of antibodies generated through the previous infection are affected by some mutations of this variant,” it added.

Nevertheless, the DOH reiterated that “correct and consistent adherence to the minimum public health standards will prevent the transmission of these variants.”

Meanwhile, health experts also confirmed the detection of 59 new cases of B.1.1.7 (UK) and 32 additional cases of B.1.351 (South Africa) variants and thirteen cases “with mutations of possible clinical significance (E484K and N501Y mutations)”.

The additional 59 B.1.1.7 variant cases comprised 30 local cases, 18 ROFs and 11 still being verified whether local or ROF.

This brings the total number of B.1.1.7 cases in the country to 177.

The 32 B.1.351 variant cases, on the other hand, are composed of 21 local cases, 1 ROF, and 10 still under verification.

The DOH said the country’s total number of B.1.351 cases is now 90.

These newly detected cases were among the tenth batch of 752 samples sequenced by the UP-PGC, with the majority of samples coming from NCR, CALABARZON, and CAR.

The health department also reported that “the UP-PGC previously detected 85 cases with a unique set of mutations, including both E484K and N501Y mutations.”

The report stated that upon verification with the Phylogenetic Assignment of Named Global Outbreak Lineages (PANGOLIN), the said samples with these mutations have been reassigned to the P.3 variant, belonging to the B.1.1.28 lineage, to which the P.1 variant also belongs.

Thirteen (13) additional cases were detected in this batch which brings the total P.3 variant cases in the country to 98.

The DOH, UP-PGC, and UP-NIH emphasized that, at present, the P.3 is NOT identified as a variant of concern as currently available data are insufficient to conclude whether the variant will have significant public health implications.

MANILA, Philippines— The Philippines’ tally of COVID-19 cases surged to 611,618 on Friday after the Department of Health (DOH) logged a record-high 4,578 new cases —  the highest daily tally on record after the 4,699 cases reported on September 14.

Based on DOH’s case bulletin, the additional infections pushed the country’s total active cases to 52,012, which is also this year’s highest.

Total recoveries climbed to 546,912 after 272 more patients recovered from the illness.

The death toll on the other hand also rose to 12,694 with 87 more fatalities.

Despite recent surge in cases, the health department said the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has improved and is much more organized this time compared to the previous year .

DOH Usec. Maria Rosario Vergeire said the health workers are now more adept in handling COVID-19 patients.

Even with a high number of cases, Vergeire said the country’s fatality rate is still low.

“We have improved so much. Ngayon mas wide na iyong ang array of options and doctors to manage cases. Pangatlo ang nakikita natin ang ating mga healthcare workers mas sanay na sila at gamay na sila how to handle our COVID-19 cases. So if you have noticed we have maintained the case fatality rate to just 2% or a little above 2%, hindi naman tumataas ng husto,” she said.

Bed capacity in public and private hospitals has also been increased to manage the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

“We were able to ensure that all hospitals, both public and private, are able to allocate beds appropriately according to the standards kaya mas marami tayo ngayon na reserve para makapag-accommodate ng mas maraming pasyente,” Vergeire said . AAC (with reports from Aiko Miguel)

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang asserts that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation in the country is still well-managed by the national government.

Despite the rising cases of COVID-19, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. maintained that the national government is doing enough in its response during the pandemic, which includes implementing health protocols.

“We have managed the crisis very well, we have limited the total number of cases to the point that number 30 lang po tayo in terms of total cases (we are in the 30th sport in terms of total cases), and the most important of course is that we have limited deaths to 2.09 of all those who have the virus,” he said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recorded the Philippines ranking 30th among countries with the highest number of COVID-19 cases.

Based on the Southeast Asia COVID-19 tracker as of March 12 at 11:30 a.m., the Philippines ranks second in the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the region, with 38, 049 total deaths, following Indonesia.

In terms of economy, the country recorded the worst full-year contraction since 1946 with 9.5% full-year contraction in 2020.

Roque, however, admitted that contact tracing efforts remain a challenge for the national government.

With this, the Palace official said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) will boost the use of the StaySafe application. He also added that the DILG will launch the application within 10 days.

“Ipapatupad po natin ang staysafe.ph na ang end user na po ngayon ay DILG dahil sila naman po ang in-charge sa contact tracing (We will launch staysafe.ph and the end user will be the DILG since they are in charge of contact tracing),” he said.

The national government aims to further open the economy in April as vaccine rollout continues.

Around 50 million adults are expected to be vaccinated before the end of 2021. –AAC (with reports from Rosalie Coz)