DOH monitoring UK, South African, Malaysian COVID variants

On January 8, the DOH announced it is monitoring three variants of SARS-CoV-2: the UK variant, a South African variant, and one from Malaysia.

The Philippine Genome Center tested 305 samples and found no presence of these variants.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said ongoing surveillance will continue with additional samples from Mindanao and Visayas for genome sequencing.

Separately, DOH-7 in Central Visayas submitted specimens from individuals who traveled to countries with the new variant; as of January 6, no cases have been detected there.