More COVID-19 variants may appear if many remain unvaccinated – expert

An infectious disease expert warned that there is a possibility that another variant of concern will emerge if many have not been vaccinated against COVID-19.

According to Rontgene Solante, a member of the vaccine expert panel of the Department of Science and Technology urged the public to be vaccinated and take booster shots for increased protection.

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“There’s still a possibility that another variant of concern will emerge but the likelihood of a variant of concern as deadly as Delta… has a remote possibility that will occur in the next, most likely, three months dahil meron pa tayong protection against omicron,” he said.

“Kung gusto natin na wala na ‘tong mangyari na mga heavily mutated variant of concern, kailangan natin mabakunahan and we build that immunity among the population,” he added.

On Tuesday, February 1, Metro Manila will return to Alert Level 2 due to the drop in COVID-19 cases.

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According to Solante, the public’s protection against COVID-19 may take a long time.

“Most likely medyo matagal-tagal ‘to dahil unang-una mataas-taas na rin ang vaccination rate natin. Lumampas na tayo ng 50 percent pero hihikayatin pa rin natin na magpabakuna ang lahat para walang mutations,” he said.

More COVID-19 variants may appear if many remain unvaccinated – expert

“Pangalawa, ‘yung tinatawag nating infection-acquired immunity, sa dami ng nagka-infection, so meron tayong temporary immunity because of that antibody,” Solante added.

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In total, more than 58.7 million or 65.33 percent in the Philippines are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

On Monday, the Philippines logged 14,546 new COVID-19 cases, the seventh straight day, the tally fell below 20,000.

Of the newly reported cases, 10,203 or 70 percent occurred within the recent 14 days. Davao region (1,381 cases), Metro Manila (1,053 cases), and Central Visayas (973 cases) were the top regions with cases in the past two weeks.

The Philippines has so far logged a total of 3,560,202 cases. Of this number, 190,818 or 5.4 percent remain active. This is the lowest number of active infections since January 11, when 181,016 were announced.

Of the active COVID-19 cases, the majority, or 177,584, are mildly ill, 8,239 have no symptoms, and 3,126 are moderate cases. The rest include 329 critical cases and 1,540 severe cases.

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