MANILA, Philippines — DOH confirmed that the Omicron variant has entered the Philippines. The variant was detected in two travelers that recently arrived from overseas. These two cases came out of the 48 samples sequenced last Tuesday.
The first patient is a Filipino national who came from Japan last December 1. He was tested on December 5. His positive result was released December 7, and was immediately admitted to an isolation facility. The patient is currently asymptomatic but had coughs and colds upon arriving in the country.
The other case is a Nigerian national who arrived last November 30. He was tested on December 6 and received the positive result on December 7. He was taken into an isolation facility and is currently asymptomatic.
The health department assured that they are determining possible close contact passengers aboard the patients’ respective flights. “The DOH is verifying the test results and health status of all passengers of these flights to determine if there are other confirmed cases of passengers who became asymptomatic after arrival.” They also urged passengers who were aboard the flights to call DOH to report their health status.
As the Omicron variant is reported to be more infectious, DOH reminds the public to follow health protocols by wearing masks and social distance. Despite the holiday season, DOH calls for the public to avoid mass gathering to lessen occurrences of virus transmission.