Latest Updates on the COVID-19 Situation in the Philippines

By Roger Santos

Last July 14, 2021, I attended the webinar organized by Nordcham to update its members and friends about the latest situation of Covid-19 in the Philippines. They invited Greg Wyatt, Director of Business Intelligence of PSA Philippines Consultancy, Inc. as the featured speaker.

Greg shared that the Delta variant has become or is becoming the dominant strain in the world. It is about 50% more contagious than the Alpha variant. Internationally, experts are assuming that Delta will be everywhere. It is more a question of how prepared will we be when that transmission starts, and how high our vaccination rate will be. He mentioned that the prioritization of Metro Manila for vaccination is part of that strategy to protect against the entry of variants.

On the Genomic Surveillance of this Covid variant in the Philippines, all 19 cases of Delta to date were detected in individuals entering the country. They have sequenced a total of 42 samples in the entire month of June. In recent interviews, the Philippine Genome Center was very optimistic that they can do 750 samples per week which is great, particularly if cases fall in number. 42 per month is bad. Greg said that if the Delta variant can be detected first through genomic surveillance, instead of a surge of cases, it can give the government the option to implement a more targeted response.

Greg believes that the government understands the seriousness of the Delta variant. Even some officials that have previously been inclined to open the economy faster seem to understand. The government was really affected by having to raise restrictions in March and has been very cautious since.

While the Philippines has been securing a large number of future doses, supply is still a constraint unfortunately. Distribution and administration of vaccines vary depending on which LGU. There are also some disruptions due to technical issues. Vaccine hesitancy is finally starting to show improvement, but still has a long way to go. However, no one really knows how fast vaccine hesitancy is going to improve.

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About the author:

Roger is a family man who loves to cook and play with his son. He spends most of his free time watching movies, especially the ones included in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Roger loves to sing and, when he’s happy, he sings his heart out, without minding the people around him.