EXISTING vaccines for Covid-19 remain effective even against its reported new variants, a medical expert said on Wednesday, as health authorities confirmed that the so-called UK variant is already in the country.
Late Wednesday, the Quezon City government said it was coordinating with the Department of Health in closely monitoring the case of a resident who tested positive for the United Kingdom variant (B117).
The patient was tested on January 7 upon arrival from Dubai and thereafter stayed at a hotel as part of protocol, said a statement from City Hall.
The day after, it was confirmed that the person had the so-called United Kingdom variant after his sample was sent to the Philippine Genome Center. He was immediately brought to an isolation facility where he is now being cared for.
He left the Philippines on December 27 on a business trip to Dubai with one companion. His female companion tested negative upon arrival.
The patient and his companion tested negative before leaving the Philippines, and tested negative as well upon arrival in Dubai.
The City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit has conducted contact tracing on the resident’s close contacts upon his arrival like the healthworkers at the isolation facility where he was brought, and the Barangay Health Emergency Response Team (BHERT) that brought him from the hotel to the isolation facility.
The CESU is waiting for the DOH to submit the list of passengers who were on the same flight as the patient from Dubai to contact-trace passengers who may be from Quezon City.
As an added precaution, the patient’s immediate household contacts have been brought to an isolation facility where they were also tested.
“We have to remain cautious and vigilant to avert the spread of this new variant. What is important is we take care of the resident, and make sure we don’t sow panic in the community,” Mayor Joy Belmonte said.
Vaccines still effective
Earlier on Wednesday, Citing data from the World Health Organization (WHO), Nina Giorlani, a member of the DOH Vaccine Expert Panel, said the identified more infectious variants of Covid-19 from South Africa (B1351) and UK do not affect antibodies against the said illness.
“So the vaccines…will still be effective,” Giorlani said in an online press briefing on Wednesday.
However, she said they will continue to monitor for other Covid-19 variants, which may no longer be affected by existing vaccines.
Currently, the government has imposed travel restrictions for foreign travelers from 32 countries due to the presence B117 in the said countries.
As of Wednesday noon, DOH said it has yet to identify the presence of the B117 in the country.
No holiday surge–yet
The Department of Health (DOH) expects the impact of holidays on Covid-19 cases to be felt near end-January as the country’s total number of infections stood at 492,700 on Wednesday.
“It is too early to tell at the moment. In order to determine if reported cases are higher than what is usual, we need to look at longer period trends,” the DOH said.
The DOH, however said, it needs to observe reported cases in the next few weeks.
“We may see the impact of the holidays toward the end of January as individuals come back from celebrating the holidays,” the DOH said.
As of January 10, 2021, the country’s overall utilization rate for Covid-19 is at low risk, “Hence, our health capacity is not yet overwhelmed.”
The agency stressed, “But we do not want this to happen that’s why we are implementing various mitigating measures already for example travel restrictions and strict quarantine.”
As of 4 p.m. of January 13, a total of 1,453 additional Covid-19 cases were logged, with 397 recoveries and 146 deaths.
Of the total number of cases, 5.0 percent (24,478) are active, 93.1 percent (458,523) have recovered, and 1.97 percent (9,699) have died.