The Department of Health said that the number of COVID-19 cases in the country may increase 28 times more after a month if the current variants of concern will become more dominant.
Dr. Alethea de Guzman, OIC Director III of the DOH Epidemiology Bureau, said that as of now, only 6.6 percent of total sequenced samples in the country were confirmed to be cases of the B.1.1.7 variant first detected in the United Kingdom and the B.1.351 variant from South Africa.
If these become the dominant variants, cases will increase by 28 times instead of just three times after a month,” De Guzman said in a forum.
“Ayaw natin umabot sa punto na lahat ng samples na nasesequence natin ay mga variants of concern. Kapag ganun po ang nakikita nating pagtaas, hindi lamang three times, four times, pwedeng up to 28 times ‘yung increase na makita natin and that will truly overwhelm our health system,” she added.
The country has so far recorded a total of 177 cases of the UK variant, 90 South Africa variant and the P.1 variant from Brazil.
Seventy-four of these cases came from incoming international travellers composed of returning Filipinos and one foreign national. (TDT)
