DOH: Omicron variant not yet detected in Philippines
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has not yet detected a case of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the Department of Health said Wednesday.
"Just to be clear, no detection yet of Omicron. We are still processing [the] next batch of whole genome sequences," Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told reporters.
Vergeire also said the department is gathering information on travelers who arrived in the Philippines from South Africa. Scientists in South Africa discovered the Omicron variant, which poses a "very high" global risk, according to the World Health Organization.
In a bid to keep the heavily mutated variant out, Philippine authorities suspended temporarily a decision allowing the entry of fully vaccinated tourists and banned arrivals from several nations.
The government is also conducting a three-day vaccination drive targeting nine million people to accelerate the rollout of COVID-19 jabs.
The DOH reported Wednesday 500 new COVID-19 infections, marking the eighth straight day that additional cases were below 1,000.
The agency also logged 167 new deaths and 951 additional recoveries.
Since the start of the pandemic, authorities have so far confirmed 2.83 million infections. Of the total, only 0.5% were active cases. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
- Latest
- Trending
