The World Health Organization (WHO) has decided to remove the COVID-19 variant first detected in the Philippines, known as the “Theta” or P.3 variant, from the list of ‘variants of interests’.
Philippine Genome Center official Dr. Eva Cutiongco-Dela Paz said that WHO downgraded the Theta variant as “alerts for further monitoring.”
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“I’d like you to note that Theta or P.3, the variant of interest first identified in the Philippines has been taken out of the list and now reclassified as a variant under alerts for further monitoring,” she said in a virtual briefing.
The WHO downgraded the variant last July 6 according to Dela Paz.
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“Cases globally are relatively low, with only a total of 269 cases reported in 14 countries — mostly in Central Visayas,” the WHO said in a statement.
“Reported detections of these variants have decreased over time, suggesting a decline in their respective incidence worldwide, and diminishing public health risks relative to other VOCs (variants of concern) and VOIs (variants of interest),” the WHO said, referring to former VOIs Theta, Epsilon, and Zeta. (TDT)
