MANILA – The Philippine remains at “low risk” to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection despite the recent discovery of the so-called “FLiRT” subvariants in the country.
According to the Department of Health (DOH), the uptick in COVID-19 infections on all regions remained “slow, mild, and manageable.”
The Health department on Tuesday confirmed it had detected the first two local cases of KP.2, one of the two FLiRT variants being closely monitored by local and international health authorities.
FLiRT is an informal name coined by researchers to refer to a whole family of new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but the DOH avoids using it to refer to KP.2 and KP.3.
“It may be likely that there are earlier KP.2 cases, but because of limited sequencing we have not detected and reported this earlier,” DOH Assistant Secretary Albert Domingo said.
Domingo also said two cases of JN.1.18 — which is among the four current COVID-19 variants under monitoring (VUMs) by the World Health Organization (WHO), along with JN.1.7 as well as the FLiRT variants KP.2 and KP.3 were detected.
“Despite the detection of new COVID-19 subvariants in the country, the sequencing findings really do not affect ongoing protocols and clinical management,” Domingo said.
“Their detection (along with the slow increase in new cases and the plateau in the number of occupied COVID-19 beds) aligns with the international observation that the new variants under monitoring continue to be clinically mild and manageable,” he added.
According to the DOH, a total of 2,233 COVID-19 cases were recorded from May 21 to May 27, a 58-percent jump from the previous week’s 1,414 detectiona.
Of the new cases reported last week, 22 were considered severe or critical (up from just 16 in the previous week). Twenty deaths were recorded (up from previous week’s 12).
Severe and critical COVID-19 cases admitted in various hospitals reached only 185, or 10 percent of total admissions, according to DOH’s data./PN
