WHO expert in Philippines to study COVID-19 variants
MANILA, Philippines — An expert from World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva arrived in the Philippines last week to assess the extent of the new variants of COVID-19 in the country.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also noted yesterday that the arrival of the expert was at the request of the Philippine government.
“There is one expert from WHO Geneva – and the rest are experts from WHO country office – and they are here specifically because we asked for their help,” she told a press briefing.
Vergeire added the WHO group will look into the effects of the new variants and their respective levels of transmission in the country.
“We also like to have technical assistance from WHO on how we can better manage, now that we have new variants here,” she said.
She said the expert, who specializes in bio-surveillance, will inform the Philippines on how the sampling for genome sequencing should be improved to get a clearer picture of the new variants.
The expert is expected to stay in the country for about a month.
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