Despite FLiRT threat, Phl remains low-risk
The Health department remains to be in close coordination with international authorities
Daily TribuneThe Health department remains to be in close coordination with international authorities
Photo courtesy of the Department of Health
Amid the threat of the FLiRT variant, the Department of Health (DoH) assured that the Philippines remains low risk for Covid-19.
In a Viber message to reporters Tuesday night, DoH Assistant Secretary and spokesperson Dr. Albert Domingo said there is no scientific basis for travel restrictions to any country because of an increase in Covid-19 cases.
Domingo, however, assured that the Health department remains to be in close coordination with international authorities.
“Bureau of Quarantine (BoQ) is keeping close watch over points of entry nationwide, as demonstrated by the latest instructions for heightened screening,” Domingo said.
“There are no additional entry forms or procedures required beyond what is now in the etravel.gov.ph website or eGovPH app,” he added.
Domingo also urged the public of the voluntary use of face masks, as well as standard precautions such as hand washing, avoiding crowds, and choosing good airflow.
The DoH earlier confirmed that its BoQ is conducting “thorough screening” at entry points of the country for arriving visitors originating from countries where Covid-19 FLiRT incidents have been detected.
New Covid-19 cases
From 14 to 20 May, the DoH reported 202 new Covid-19 cases, less than half compared to around 500 per day at the start of this year and also compared to around 1,750 per day in the middle of May 2023.
As of 18 May, only 12 percent or 141 out of 1,155 dedicated Covid-19 intensive care unit (ICU) beds were occupied.
Only 14 percent or 1,435 out of 10,356 of total Covid-19 beds were occupied.
Severe and critical Covid-19 cases admitted in various hospitals total to only 151 or nine percent of total admissions.
Meanwhile, of the figure, 12 deaths were recorded, which occurred from 7 to 20 May.
Sequencing
Domingo said sequencing efforts are continuously being conducted by the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.
“Whether or not sequencing shows variants flagged by global health agencies, the DoH assumes the flagged Omicron subvariants (i.e. KP.2, KP.3) are already likely here, and notes that cases continue to be clinically mild and manageable,” he added.
Four variants of monitoring, namely JN.1.7, JN.1.18, KP.2, and KP.3, are all descendants of JN.1.
Variants KP.2 and KP.3 are the proper names of what is informally known as “FLiRT” variants. FLiRT is a nickname coined by some researchers to describe amino acid changes in the Covid-19 virus’ spike protein, specifically from phenylalanine (F) to leucine (L) at position 456, and from arginine (R) to threonine (T) at position 346.
The World Health Organization observed that “there are currently no reported laboratory or epidemiological reports indicating any association between VOIs/VUMs and increased disease severity.”
Domingo stressed there is still no evidence now that the KP.2 and KP.3 variants are causing severe to critical Covid-19, both locally and internationally.
“Further assessment continues to determine transmissibility and capacity to evade immune response,” he added.
