The Omicron variant of the coronavirus may soon replace Delta as the dominant variant in the Philippines, World Health Organization country representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe said Wednesday.Abeyasinghe noted that it would be difficult to determine soon which variant is… Read More
The Department of Health (DOH) in Northern Mindanao (DOH-10) on Friday confirmed that two of the 43 recently recorded Omicron variant cases in the country are constituents of the region.
DOH-10 Director Jose Llacuna Jr., in an online conference, said the two patients – a student and a seaman – are residents of this city and nearby Iligan City, respectively.
Dr. Stephani Grace Zamora, cluster head for DOH-10’s Regional Epidemiology, Surveillance and Disaster Response Unit (RESDRU), said the Iligan case was a 40-year-old seaman who arrived in the Philippines via Qatar Airways on December 16, 2021.
“He tested positive on December 20 in an isolation facility in Cebu City and was clinically cleared on December 30 when he headed back to his residence in Iligan City,” she said.
In a PNA report, Zamora said the second case was a 20-year-old college student who came from the United States and is currently in isolation in a facility in Manila.
In a joint statement with the University of the Philippines – Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC) and the University of the Philippines – National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH) the DOH also reported 18 cases positive for the Delta variant while one had no lineage assigned.
The agencies noted that the latest sequencing run was composed of samples from 19 returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) and 29 local cases from areas with case clusters.
“The 29 Omicron variant cases are composed of 10 ROFs and 19 local cases with indicated addresses in the National Capital Region (NCR), bringing the total number of confirmed Omicron variant cases to 43,” the DOH said.
Of the 19 local cases, 14 are still active while three have been tagged as recovered. Read More
The United States set a global record of almost 1 million new coronavirus infections reported on Monday.
According to a Reuters tally, the alarming figure is nearly double the country’s peak hit just a week ago as the h
ighly contagious Omicron variant shows no sign of slowing.
The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has risen nearly 50% in the last week and now exceeds 100,000, a Reuters analysis showed, the first time that threshold has been reached since the winter surge a year ago.
The average number of U.S. COVID-19 deaths per day has remained fairly steady throughout December and into early January at about 1,300, according to a Reuters tally, though deaths typically lag behind cases and hospitalizations.
Omicron appears to be far more easily transmitted than previous iterations of the virus. The variant was estimated to account for 95.4% of the coronavirus cases identified in the United States as of Jan. 1, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday.
By ROGER M. BALANZA
“We have initial projections which state that at the end of January, cases will peak,” Vergeire said.
MANILA – The country is ready for a possible Omicron variant wave which Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega said on Monday seems to be upon the Philippines as the Covid-19 infections continue to increase.“Well, it looks like the Omicron wave is upon us,” Vega,… Read More
THE DURIAN POST 