Omicron is now the dominant Covid-19 variant in the country based on newest genome sequencing samples, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Monday.
In a televised briefing with President Rodrigo Duterte, Duque said 60.42 percent of recent Covid-19 samples turned out to be the Omicron variant.
“Base sa atin pong pinakahuling whole genome sequencing nitong Jan. 3 sa 48 sample na sumailalim sa sequencing, 29 ang lumalabas na Omicron variants, ang katumbas po nito ay 60.42 percent,” Duque said.
“So siya na po ‘yung nagdo-dominate na variant whereas before it was the Delta,” he added.
Duque said the Delta variant comprised 37.5 percent of the latest sequencing results.
As of Jan. 6, 43 cases of Omicron have been detected in the country.
While some scientists believe that Omicron is the beginning of the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, some have raised concern about how the highly infectious variant could overwhelm the healthcare systems of countries with low vaccination numbers.
Of the country’s 33,169 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, 97.1 percent were tagged as mild and exhibiting no symptoms by the Department of Health. John Ezekiel J. Hirro