(UPDATED) The University of the Philippines - Philippine Genome Center (PGC) has detected 246 additional coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases with variants of concern/interest in the country, bringing the total closer to 2,500.
The additional cases consist of 104 with B.1.1.7, 137 with B.1.351, one with B.1.1617.2 and four with P.3. No additional P.1 case was detected, the Department of Health (DOH) said in a statement Saturday, May 29, 2021.
There were eight deaths among these new cases, three with B.1.1.7 and five with B.1.351.
Cumulatively, 59 patients with variants had died in the Philippines, consisting of 29 with B.1.1.7, 27 with B.1.351, one with B.1.617.2 and two with P.3.
Fourteen of the 246 additional cases are still active, five with B.1.1.7 and nine with B.1.351, while 224 have recovered.
There are now 11 active B.1.1.7 cases, 14 active B.1.351 cases and one active P.3 case, or a total of 26 active variant cases as of May 29.
The variants of concern are B.1.1.7, which was first detected in the United Kingdom; B.1.351, which emerged in South Africa; B.1,617.2, first reported in India; and P.1, which was first found in Brazilian travelers.
The P.3, an alias for B.1.1.28.3, was first detected in the Philippines. It is still considered a variant of interest by the World Health Organization.
With these additional cases, there are now a total of 2,494 cases with variants of concern/interest in the Philippines, consisting of 1,071 B.1.1.7, 1,246 B.1.351, 13 B.1.617.2, 162 P.3 and two P.1 cases.
Of these, 2,409 have recovered, 59 had died and 26 were still battling Covid-19 as of May 29.
The DOH statement said the additional case with B.1.617.2 is a returning overseas Filipino (ROF) who arrived from the United Arab Emirates and indicated an address in the Cordillera Administrative Region.
The case has completed the 10-day facility-based quarantine upon arrival and has been certified as recovered from Covid-19.
Of the 104 additional B.1.1.7 cases, one is an ROF and 89 are local cases while 14 are under verification.
Excluding the ROF and those that are still under verification, the cases were from Cordillera (32), Calabarzon (14), National Capital Region (12), Central Luzon (12), Caraga (7), Eastern Visayas (4), Cagayan Valley (4), Zamboanga Peninsula (2) and Soccsksargen (2).
Of the 137 cases with B.1.351 variant, one is an ROF, nine are being verified and 127 are local cases.
The local cases were from Zamboanga Peninsula (54), NCR (34), Calabarzon (15), Caraga (13), Cordillera (7), Central Luzon (3) and Soccsksargen (1).
Three of the four additional P.3 variants are local cases from Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula and Caraga. One is still under verification. All have recovered.
The four variants of concern have been found to be highly transmissible. Studies are still ongoing on how these impact on severity of disease and vaccine efficacy, among others.
As of May 29, the PGC and UP-National Institutes of Health have sequenced a total of 7,547 coronavirus-positive samples, less than one percent of the confirmed total Covid-19 case count of 1,216,582 in the country. (Marites Villamor-Ilano with HDT / VoxPop Philippines)