ALL the 120 individuals who arrived in Central Visayas from countries with confirmed Omicron cases have tested negative for the Covid-19 virus, the Visayas Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC) said.
“So far, so good. But they will still be undergoing monitoring at the local government unit level,” VVOC spokesperson Mary Jean Loreche said.
The overseas Filipino workers and returning overseas Filipinos’ monitoring period will end 14 days after their arrival at their respective local government units (LGUs).
The 120 arrivals from Nov. 15 to Nov. 30, 2021 entered the country via the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. They had a history of travel to Austria, Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands, South Africa and Switzerland.
The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) said persons who had travelled to South Africa must spend 14 days in a quarantine facility.
They will be swabbed again before release whether or not they exhibit Covid-19 symptoms at all.
The World Health Organization (WHO) last month designated the variant B.1.1.529 a variant of concern (VOCs), named Omicron, on the advice of WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution.
“This variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning. Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant, as compared to other VOCs,” the WHO said in its statement.
Delta
For its part, the Department of Health (DOH) said Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021 that the Omicron variant has not reached the country based on the latest genome sequencing report of the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC) and the University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH).
The DOH said of the 48 samples sequenced on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 38 were found to be Delta variant cases, while the rest had no lineages detected.
The Delta variant was traced from 31 local cases and seven returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs).
Of the 48 samples sequenced, 12 were from returning overseas Filipinos, while 36 were local cases in areas with a high-risk average daily attack rate.
Based on the Delta case line list, one local case is still active, while 27 local and all seven ROF cases have been tagged as recovered.
Three local cases are still currently being verified as to their outcomes.
“All other details are being validated by the regional and local health offices,” the DOH said.
So far, the country has recorded a total of 7,886 Delta variant cases. (TPM / SunStar Philippines)