(Reuters) The Philippines has detected its first two cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in India, its health ministry said on Tuesday, even as confirmed daily COVID-19 infections fell to a near eight-week low.
The World Health Organization has classified the coronavirus variant, known as B.1.617, as a variant of global concern with some preliminary studies showing that it spreads more easily.
The variant had been confirmed in two Filipino seafarers who returned in April, Alethea De Guzman, director of the ministry’s epidemiology bureau, told a news conference
“We need to continually monitor what other variants we may be able to detect locally, as well as monitor the spread of the variants we have already detected,” De Guzman said, adding that the seafarers were isolated on their return and had both recovered… Read More