Manila confirms 52 more cases of S.africa variant

MANILA: The Department of Health ( DOH) on Friday reported that 52 more confirmed new cases of the more infectious South Africa COVID-19 variant were detected in the county even as President Duterte ordered the deployment of the Sinovac and Astrazeneca vaccines to give frontline health workers more options in the inoculation programme.

In its report, the DOH said the 52 new cases brought to 58 the total number of the South Africa variant patients. It added that of the total, 41 patients carried Metro Manila addresses while the remaining 11 are being verified if they are “locals” or returning overseas Filipino workers ( OFWS).

There was also a noticeable increase in the total number of the UK variant infections which hit 118 from 31 new confirmed cases, the DOH said as it assured steps have been taken to prevent their spread.

Meanwhile, Vince Dizon, the deputy national implementer of the National Task Force against COVID-19, disclosed that Duterte had ordered the deployment of the Sinovac and Astrazeneca vaccines to give nurses, doctors and other frontline medical workers more choices.

“The rollout will start immediately based on instructions from Duterte,” Dizon told CNN Philippines in an interview.

“As early as maybe today (Friday) or in the next few days, the Astrazeneca vaccine will already be rolled out.” On Thursday night, Duterte led officials in welcoming 487,200 doses of AstraZeneca which arrived by plane from Europe as part of the country’s share in the Covax facility set up by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to help low-income and middle-income countries like the Philippines in the inoculation programmes.

Officials earlier noted that some of the frontline workers had admitted low confidence on the Sinovac vaccines which spearheaded the start of the Philippine campaign on Monday with the arrival of 600,000 doses donated by the Chinese government.

In particular, the efficacy rate of the Sinovac vaccine stood at a low 50.4 per cent, based on a study on its use in Brazil, according to experts.

With the introduction of the Astrazeneca vaccine, officials said healthcare frontliners will now have the option to choose between the two products even as the Philippines was among the last Southeast Asian nations to start its inoculation campaign even it has the second highest number of infections and death toll in the region.

At the same time, Secretary Carlito Galvez, the vaccine czar, admitted there was a breach in the protocol giving health workers top priority when some VIPS (very important persons) allegedly intruded into the line.