The Catholic Church on Friday urged the faithful to go back to attending in-person Masses every Sunday as the country’s COVID-19 situation continues to improve.
“We strongly encourage our faithful to return to the Sunday Eucharist with a purified heart, renewed amazement, and increased desire to meet the Lord, to be with him, to receive him, and bring him to our brothers and sisters with the witness of a life full of faith, love and hope,” CBCP president and Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David on Friday in a circular addressed to all bishops and Diocesan administrators.
David also reminded the public to still strictly follow government health protocols.
“Health protocols are still to be implemented in our parish churches and venues for the liturgical celebrations. We make sure that our faithful are convinced that they are safe in our churches and venues for the liturgical celebrations,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) reiterated Friday the importance of having booster shots following the emergence of new COVID-19 variants.
The DOH issued the remark after it was asked if the existing COVID-19 vaccines would work against new subvariants, including the new Omicron subvariant XBB.
“To limit mutations of the virus, transmission should be mitigated through vaccination. With emerging and re-emerging variants and sub-variants reported to have higher immune-evasive characteristics, the DOH stresses the importance of getting boosted against the virus,” the department said in a statement.
“Completing our booster doses and adhering to our health protocols will prevent severe and critical cases, and protect our hospitals and healthcare facilities from getting overwhelmed,” it added.
The DOH said that it would continue to keep track of the coronavirus variants, with assistance from the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said the Omicron subvariants under monitoring as of October 12, 2022 are BA.5, BA.2.75, BJ.1, BA.4.6, XBB, and BA.2.3.20.
The Philippines has yet to report a case of Omicron subvariant XBB.
Citing preliminary studies, the DOH said that the “sublineage shows higher immune evasion ability than BA.5.”
In response to the view of some health experts that the country is nearing the endemic stage for COVID-19, the DOH said it would wait for guidance from “global health partners.”
“The DOH reiterates that as we learn to live with the virus, we must continue to protect ourselves against the severe form of COVID-19,” the DOH said.
“The DOH will continue to observe the situation locally and internationally and wait [for] our global health partners such as the World Health Organization to declare that the state of public health emergency is over,” it added.
An infectious diseases health expert, Dr. Rontgene Solante, said it is possible that the subvariant XBB can enter the country.
Solante said even vaccinated Filipinos can get sick with the COVID-19 XBB variant, if it gets into the country.
He said even Singapore, which has a high rate of booster use, is experiencing an increase in the number of cases because of XBB.
Mask-wearing remains an important defense against COVID-19, he added.
“The face mask is our last protection against this infection. Which means that if the virus is present and can evade our neutralizing antibody because of the nature of a very mutated virus, then it’s important to maintain the face mask.”
He said relaxing the use of face masks may not be a good idea at this time.