THE Sars-CoV-2 variant that emerged in the Philippines, earlier designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as Theta, has been removed from the list of variants of interest (VOI).
It is now on the list of variants with “alerts for further monitoring,” along with two other former VOIs, Epsilon (B.1.427/B.1.429) and Zeta (P.2).
A variant under this category is defined by the WHO as one with “genetic changes that are suspected to affect virus characteristics with some indication that it may pose a future risk, but evidence of phenotypic or epidemiological impact is currently unclear, requiring enhanced monitoring and repeat assessment pending new evidence.”
“Former VOIs/VOCs may, however, be monitored for an extended period under this (alerts for further monitoring) category, and will maintain their assigned WHO label until further notice,” the WHO website states.
VOIs and variants of concern (VOC) are reclassified if assessment shows that these “no longer pose a major added risk to global public health compared to other circulating Sars-CoV-2 variants.”
As of Thursday, July 8, 2021, the VOCs are Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.351), Gamma (P.1) and Delta (B.1.617.2).
The VOIs are Eta (B.1.525), Iota (B.1.526), Kappa (B.1.617.1) and Lambda (C.37).
The P.3 variant was first detected in coronavirus-positive samples collected in Central Visayas.
As of July 4, the University of the Philippines Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC) has detected 166 Theta cases. Two had died, 163 have recovered and one remains an active case.
All VOCs have been detected in the country.
As of July 4, there have been 1,217 cases of Alpha, 1,386 Beta, 19 Delta and 2 Gamma.
There are no active Delta and Gamma cases, but there are seven Alpha and 12 Beta cases that are still active cases.
Of the total, 47 had died from Alpha variant, 47 from Beta variant and one from Delta variant.
Among these VOCs,
The UP-PGC has sequenced 7,878 samples, which constitute 0.5 percent of the 1,450,110 total Covid-19 case count as of July 7. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)