UK variant detected in 11 cities in NCR; South African variant found in 7 cities
(Eagle News) – The Department of Health said that seven cities in Metro Manila have both the United Kingdom and the South African variants but did not specify what these cities were.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also said that in all, 11 cities in Metro Manila had the UK variant, or the variant B.1.1.7.
In fact, about 3.5 percent of all samples tested in Metro Manila were found to be positive for the UK variant.
More were even found to have the South African variant, or as many as 5.5 percent of the samples, Vergeire said.
There are seven cities in Metro Manila which have the South African variant, she said, but did not identify these.
“We have seven cities in the NCR where both the UK and South African variant were identified,” Vergeire said.
The cities which have earlier reported this variant are Pasay City, Quezon City, and Paranaque City.
–13 NCR cities with COVID-19 spike-
The University of the Philippines OCTA Research also identified 13 cities in Metro Manila which have had a spike in COVID-19 cases. These are the following: Quezon City, Manila, Pasay, Makati, Parañaque, Taguig, Caloocan, Pasig, Malabon, Valenzuela, Marikina, Navotas. and Muntinlupa.
“Hospital occupancy exceeded 70% in Quezon City, Makati and Taguig. ICU bed capacity exceeded 70% in Taguig, Pasig, Mandaluyong, Las Pinas, Muntinlupa and San Juan. Cainta and Lapu-Lapu also had greater than 70% bed occupancy,” noted OCTA Research.
Vergeire said that “we cannot assume right that all of the cases that are turning positive in Metro Manila are already the UK or South African variants.”
She said that the genome sequencing of COVID-19 samples in Metro Manila is continuing to further determine how many cases were positive for the two highly infectious variants.
On Friday, the Department of Health reported the highest daily tally of COVID-19 cases so far at 4,578. Active cases nationwide are at 52,012 or 8.5 percent of total cases. The country’s total cases reached 611,618 as of March 12.
Starting Monday, Metro Manila will also start a two-week 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew to arrest the COVID-19 spike in the Philippine capital.
(Eagle News Service)