New COVID-19 variants detected

FOLLOWING THE recent detection of new COVID-19 variants and subvariants in the country, including the BQ.1 subvariant, the Department of Health (DOH) emphasized that new variants will naturally emerge with continued transmission and that limiting the spread of the deadly virus and ensuring updated protection through vaccination is the definitive way to prevent this emergence.

The DOH also underscored that continued strengthening of existing management and surveillance systems is key to living with COVID-19 in the new normal.

“We have to start demystifying variants. Viruses naturally mutate with continued transmission–this is a natural occurrence. Alam din natin at ng ating mga eksperto iyan, kaya ang mas importante talaga ay pigilan ang pagpasa ng virus para maiwasan ang pag-mutate nito, at lalong importante na laging handa ang ating healthcare system to respond to these emerging variants,” said Health Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire.

Despite the emergence of new COVID-19 variants and an increase in the number of new infections in the country, the DOH assured the healthcare utilization rate remains at low risk, and preparatory activities have already been initiated to ensure that triage systems are in place and step-down health facilities are available should an increase in healthcare utilization rates be observed.

Vergeire said that on top of ensuring adequate health system capacity to respond to emerging variants, equally important is strengthening local and international surveillance and data-sharing systems to ensure that the natural emergence of variants is always captured, studied, and used to update COVID-19 vaccines.

She also assured that all current vaccines remain effective in preventing severe and critical COVID-19, as well as death from the virus, regardless of variant.

“The science of COVID-19 is evolving–araw-araw may bagong datos na inaaral ang mga eksperto. Despite this, what is clear to us is that our layers of protection continue to be effective against COVID-19 and its variants. Particularly for vaccines, the challenge is ensuring that they remain effective against these emerging variants.”

“This is why it is crucial that we continue bolstering our surveillance systems and participating in global surveillance data-sharing initiatives and platforms, like GISAID, because this data is what vaccine manufacturers study and use to update vaccines, ensuring that we are always a step ahead,” Vergeire said.

“As of now, all our vaccines continue to be effective against severe cases caused by detected variants. This is why we continue to appeal to our kababayans to get vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19 on top of other layers of protection, to minimize transmission and in effect, the emergence of new variants,” she added. (Mindanao Examiner)