February 18th, local time, the Philippines Ministry of Health announced that the Philippines Genome Center found two variant coronaviruses in a batch of COVID-19 test samples, which were collected last week in Cebu City, Visaya District, central Philippines.
Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, spokesman for the Visaya District of the Philippines Department of Health, said that the genome center detected 37 samples of 50 samples with COVID-19 variations, which carried E484K variations or N501Y variations, of which Two variant virus strains exist in 29 samples at the same time.
Lorech said that the two variant virus strains have no official names, and their complete gene sequences have yet to be further studied.
But the Philippines Department of Health and the Genome Center point out that the current data are not enough to prove that the variant novel coronavirus found can have a significant impact on public health.
The Philippines Department of Health also said that the health agencies in the Central Visaya region have taken measures to curb the spread of variant viruses in the region and have carried out diversion work.
The Ministry of Health requires all people to strictly abide by the health and epidemic prevention regulations and work together to reduce the infection rate.
As of February 12, the Philippines Department of Health has reported 44 cases of variant COVID-19, which have been infected with the same variant virus as found in the UK.
