President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the allocation of P362 million for genomic biosurveillance, which is expected to strengthen the government’s overall coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response.
In a virtual presser on Thursday, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the President approved the recommendation during the 51st Cabinet meeting at Malacañang Palace on Wednesday.
Nograles said genomic biosurveillance was expected to improve efforts to trace close contacts of individuals found positive for the B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2 variant, also known as the United Kingdom variant.
“With different strains and variants of the COVID-19 virus now emerging, the Department of Health will be mobilizing resources and investing in genomic biosurveillance, which will strengthen and improve our overall Covid-19 response as the conduct of whole genome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis of the virus will enable us to understand the evolution of the virus across geographical and time scales as well as the impact of specific mutations on viral properties including infectiousness and virulence,” he said.
Citing the DOH, Nograles said genomic surveillance was also critical input for the country’s national vaccine deployment program.
Genome sequencing is used to check for the presence of COVID-19 variants. It is done by analyzing a sample taken from a diagnosed patient and comparing it with others.
COVID update
The Philippines logged on Thursday 1,590 new cases of coronavirus disease 2019, bringing the total to 531,699, as two laboratories failed to submit their data on time, the DOH reported.
The DOH also reported 32,775 active cases, which is 6.2 percent of the total. Of the active cases, 88.9 percent are mild; 5.9 percent are asymptomatic; 2.4 percent are critical; 2.3 percent are severe; and 0.53 percent are moderate.
The DOH also reported 249 new recoveries, bringing the total recoveries to 487,927, which is 91.8 percent of the total, and reported 55 new fatalities, bringing the death toll to 10,997, which is 2.07 percent.
Emergency situations
The Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center has limited its services to “emergency” situations and special treatments as it urged the public to avail of teleconsultation.
The BGHMC, in an advisory posted in the Public Information Office-Baguio social media account, said the issuance of a health pass would be temporarily limited to patients with the following conditions during the general community quarantine period from February 1 to 28 – cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy; hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients; for HIV and AIDS core team patients; and Obstetrics patients with expected date of delivery this month.
The advisory came after the GCQ declaration for the whole Cordillera Administrative Region took effect on February 1 and after the DOH announced that the B.1.1.7 United Kingdom variant of the COVID-19 has been detected in Mountain Province and La Trinidad, Benguet.
The medical facility opened the teleconsultation so that patients who refuse to go to the hospital during the pandemic will still be able to reach out their doctors and avoid complicating their health conditions.
