THE Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday said that FLiRT variants of Covid-19 may be behind the increase of cases in the country.
DOH Spokesperson and Assistant Secretary Albert Domingo said this after two cases of the KP.2 variant were identified in recent sequencing data by the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC).
KP.2 and KP.3 – considered new variants or variants under monitoring (VUM) – have been dubbed as “FLiRT” variants by some researchers to describe amino acid changes in the spike protein of the COVID-19 virus.
“Kami na sa DOH ang nagsasabing malamang sa malamang, iyan ang dahilan… Kasi meron tayong epidemiological report or advisory mula sa World Health Organization as of the early part of May, tapos meron tayong datos mula sa Singapore,” Domingo said in a phone interview with ABS-CBN News.
“Una nating nakita ang Singapore na nagdeklara na ang daming pumasok na kaso sa kanila pero puro mild at hindi severe. Ganoon din sa Estados Unidos, sa Center for Disease Control, Centers for Disease Control nila. At dito ngayong meron na tayong confirmation na nandito nga pala si KP.2, pero nakita na natin two cases so far,” he said.
Domingo said the UP-PGC sequencing data results only confirmed what they had suspected.
“Hindi na kami nagulat na meron na. In fact, sabi nga namin noong inaantay natin iyong genome sequencing, I think one or two weeks ago, sabi namin andito na iyan for all we are aware of. Kasi we are looking at the same behavior na tumataas iyong transmission, pero mild lang ang mga kaso at hindi tumataas iyong mga namamatay at nagiging severe na kaso,” Domingo said.
