The government has imposed travel restrictions on more than 30 countries after the

new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 was detected in the
country this week. The new variant, while not more lethal, is believed to be 50-70
percent more infectious.
A Filipino male who arrived from the United Arab Emirates last Jan. 7 yielded
positive genome sequencing results of the UK variant, according to the Department of
Health (DOH). Contact tracing of the other passengers of the flight from Dubai as
well as those who had initial contact with the patient has been conducted, and none
has been infected so far, assured the DOH.
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But experts also say this new variant should even be more reason to spur the
government to improve its uninspired drive against the deadly coronavirus, which has
infected almost 500,000 in the Philippines. The UK variant, known as B117, is said to
be more contagious and easily transmissible because it increases the viral load inside a
person’s respiratory tract so it spreads more easily when people talk or cough. And
though early studies show that it is not as virulent, it is easier to transmit and catch,
which could strain the country’s already fragile health care system. Health experts
warn that coronavirus cases could see as much as a 15-fold increase, even as the DOH
said that only 31 percent of hospital beds in the country have been occupied as of the
first week of January.
Aside from B117, other more contagious variants have been detected in Brazil and
South Africa and are already circulating in the United States, which has the highest
number of COVID-19 cases worldwide. Reports said the Brazil variant shares
similarities with the highly infectious variants from the UK and South Africa, and was
first detected in four people who had traveled from Amazonas to Tokyo earlier this
month.
Early data from a study conducted by the University of Texas Medical Branch did
show promising signs that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine may protect
against the new variants. Pfizer is the only COVID-19 vaccine that has so far been
given emergency use authorization (EUA) approval by Philippine regulators. In
Thursday’s Senate investigation on the government’s COVID-19 vaccination
program, Sen. Grace Poe urged the government to prioritize negotiations with Pfizer
at this time over deals with other manufacturers whose products have yet to get an
approval from the FDA.