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The Secretary of Health, Francisco T. Duque III, downplayed the possibility that the new mutations detected could be the reason for the increase in infections in central Visayas
“It is difficult to relate that [It’s hard to connect it to the new mutations]”Duque said in a special media forum on Friday, citing other factors that can be attributed to the increase in cases.
“There are many factors to know or observe … Greater mobility [there was an increase in mobility] that is also possible for many reasons [it may be one of the many reasons]”Duque said.
He noted that the contact rate and transmission rate also increased, which could also be the reason behind the increase in Covid cases.
Duque stressed that there must first be concrete evidence to determine the reason for the increase in Covid cases.
The director of the Tropical Medicine Research Institute (RITM), Celia Carlos, echoed Duque when she said that it is still necessary to do more sequencing in Region 7 to determine that, in fact, the increase in cases is due to the new mutations.
Before jumping to the conclusion, Carlos stressed that it is necessary “to have a clearer image of the situation.”
“We need to sequence more samples from more areas of Region 7,” Carlos said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Alethea de Guzman of the DOH Office of Epidemiology said DOH is closely investigating the situation in the Region to determine why cases in the region have increased rapidly.
“We call it a sharp increase in the number of cases,” De Guzmán said, presenting that as of February 18, the total number of confirmed cases in Region 7 was 35,743.
New mutations
Dr. Cynthia Saloma, from the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC), said that of the 70 samples received from Region 7 on the night of February 6, a total of 59 samples met the criteria for whole genome sequencing.
Of the 59 sequenced samples, 50 were assigned “lineages with confidence” according to the Phylogenetic Assignment of Named Global Shoot Lineages or the PANGOLIN app that assigns lineages to the Covid-19 sequence. The lineage is a larger grouping that represents subtypes of the virus.
“Of these, 31/50 or 62 percent were initially identified to contain two mutations of interest to the global community: E484K and N501Y,” Saloma said, adding that further analysis of the distinctive mutations, if any, of the Samples from Region 7 prompted PGC’s genomic biosurvigilance team to closely observe all genome sequences in the samples.
MGCQ at NCR
Meanwhile, Duque said that the transition of the National Capital Region (NCR) from GCQ to MGCQ will not be affected by the new mutations discovered in Region 7.
“NCR is a different region,” Duque said.
Earlier, the president of the Manila Metropolitan Development Authority, Benjamin Abalos Jr., announced that the mayors of Metro Manila have already agreed to place NCR under MGCQ.
“It is a huge challenge for the government to help the economy run while keeping people safe and healthy. The mayors of Metro Manila play an important role in this matter … The important thing is that we act as one. The important thing is unity, ”Ábalos emphasized.
While the MGCQ will be implemented soon, Duque again reminded the public that they must be actively involved to keep infection rates low and ultimately reduce the chances of viral mutations, strictly adhering to Prevent’s minimum public health standards and protocols. -Detect- Isolate-Treat-Reintegrate Strategy.
“We have to scale even further in light of these variants,” Duque said, emphasizing that the public must “effectively and faithfully comply with our minimum public health standards.”
Control and containment strategies
Duque said that Dr. Jaime Bernades, regional director of DOH-7, has already ordered intensification of control and containment measures to stop the rapid increase in cases.
These include: active case finding, contact tracing up to the third generation, subsequent tracing, immediate quarantine or aggressive isolation via “Oplan Kalinga”, localized blocking and additional samples will also be sent to PGC.
Duque also emphasized the need to ensure that the utilization rate in Region 7 maintains the level of the safe zone.
He also said DOH will closely monitor Region 7 whether the situation will improve or not.
Covid cases in the country rose to 557,058 on Friday.
