By Marcus Raphael Guevara
May 11, 2021— Coronavirus variant from India known as B1617 was detected in the Philippines on Tuesday.
Photo Source: BBC
It brought a lot of fear to Filipinos as India's situation since March in the current year is uncontrollable as they hold a record of 400,000 COVID-19 cases per day.
The said variant was detected from two Filipino seafarers who came back to the Philippines from the United Arab Emirates and Oman, Alethea De Guzman, director of the ministry's epidemiology bureau announced in a news conference.
"We need to continually monitor what other variants we may be able to detect locally, as well as monitor the spread of the variants we have already detected," De Guzman said.
The Government of the Philippines restrained travelers from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh from entering the country to avoid the possible COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
The Philippines currently has the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia, and the Herd Immunity Philippines estimates that all Filipinos will be fully vaccinated in August 2023.
Comentarios