DEPARTMENT of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Tuesday, December 7, that based on evidence, the Omicron variant of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) only causes mild symptoms.
Duque said World Health Organization country representative Dr. Rabi Abeyasinghe pointed out three things about the Omicron variant during their discussion.
“Sinabi niya three things. Number one, lumalabas ho na mukhang dumadami ang ebidensya na mild ang Omicron, which is good for all of us,” he said during President Rodrigo Duterte’s Talk to the People Address on Monday.
“Number two, wala pa pong reported death on account of Omicron variant. Okay po ‘yan,” he added.
He said the extent of transmissibility of the said strain is still being studied.
Octa fellow and molecular biologist Fr. Nicanor Austriaco said in the meeting that based on recent studies, the Omicron variant has more spike protein but its shape is far different from the Delta variant.
He said this means that the virus is able to escape the immune protection a person has either from a previous infection of Covid-19 or from vaccination.
Austriaco said in South Africa, where the Omicron variant was first detected, cases were “exploding” but hospitalizations are not rising fast, which may mean that the variant is not that infectious.
As part of preventive measures against the Omicron variant, the National Government closed the country’s borders on flights coming from 14 areas where local cases were recorded.
It also reimposed strict quarantine measures on arriving passengers.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the Inter-Agency Task Force decided not to add more countries under the red list or those with flight restrictions.
“Ang gagawin natin, i-intensify natin ang ginagawang control sa ating borders (What we will do is intensify our border control),” he said.
“Hindi ho natin puwede isara ang Pilipinas from the rest of the world. So ‘yan po ang prinsipyong pinanghahawakan ng Inter-Agency Task Force. Kaya ang ating mga eksperto nagrekomenda na lang po ng mga protocols stricter than before, so that at least, we can assure that we can still guard our borders,” she added.
Australia, Zambia and Zimbabwe recently recorded local Omicron variant cases.
Australia is included in the country’s yellow list, while Zambia is on the green list and Zimbabwe is part of the red list. (SunStar Philippines)