by Ana Rufa Padua
As the surge of COVID-19 cases continue to rise, the Department of Health (DOH) confirms that the P.3 variant of the virus has emerged in the country along with 85 cases detected by the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) that involve a unique set of mutations related to the variant.
According to Dr. Anna Lisa Ong-Lim on a public briefing regarding the variant, DOH submitted their findings of the P.3 to a global reporting system to verify if it is unique to our country or if it had already been seen in other countries. The system confirmed that the variant was unique to the Philippines.
Dr. Ong-Lim also mentioned that there is still insufficient data to determine whether the P.3 variant is more infectious or if it has an association with higher mortality rates in order to call it a variant of concern (VOC).
“P.3 is still being studied to find evidence if it will fulfill (the) criteria,” DOH states to explain that a variant only becomes a VOC if associated with the increase in transmissibility of the virus, increase in virulence, and decrease in the effectiveness of public health measures.
The Philippines currently has three reported variants of concern, namely the B.1.1.7, the B.1.351 and the P.1 of which all have the N501Y mutation (increased transmission rate). The B.1.351 and P.1 also have the E484K mutation that affects vaccine efficacy.
Data that states the difference between each variant is yet to be published, although the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that the B.1.1.7 may be associated with the increase of mortality rates compared to the other variants.
The DOH continues to remind the public to adhere to the minimum public standards in order to effectively prevent the transmission of the virus and its variants.
Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/transmission/variant.html
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