WITH coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases now on a decline, an infectious disease expert yesterday said the Philippines is now past the wave caused by the “Arcturus” or XBB.1.16 subvariant in recent weeks.
The Arcturus subvariant was designated as a variant of interest by the World Health Organization in April after it was reported in 33 countries. The WHO has categorized it as low risk compared with other Omicron subvariants.
Biosurveillance testing conducted by the Department of Health (DOH) in the past weeks indicated there were 44 cases of the Arcturus or XBB.1.16 subvariant in the country.
In a televised public briefing, Dr. Rontgene Solante noted the reported decline in COVID-19 cases and positivity rates in the past seven days.
“Based on what we can see, the downward trend of positivity rates and hospitalization rate, I think we have passed the critical stage of the Arcturus (wave),” said Solante.
The latest COVID-19 case bulletin of the health department reported an average of 1,301 cases daily for the period of May 29 to June 4, which is 22 percent lower than the average cases reported the previous week.
The independent OCTA Research has also reported a decline in the positivity rates in the National Capital Region (NCR) and 14 provinces in Luzon.
But while the Arcturus wave may be over, Solante said the public should not become complacent against COVID-19 as its threat remains present around the globe.
“There are seven other subvariants under monitoring according to the World Health Organization. So, we don’t know yet when it will arrive in the country or if they are already here. We should always be vigilant against these variants. We have to be vigilant in wearing face masks and isolate if we observe symptoms,” said Solante.
BIVALENT JABS
At the same time, Solante urged the DOH to consider acquiring more bivalent COVID-19 vaccines to ensure their availability for all eligible individuals and not just rely on donated doses.
“If we will be totally dependent on these donations of less than 1.3 million, it will definitely be insufficient,” said Solante, adding: “We hope that we will be able to acquire more… These bivalent vaccines are very important.”
Over the weekend, more than 390,000 doses of the bivalent COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Lithuanian government arrived in the country.
Aside from this, the DOH is also working to acquire 1,002,000 bivalent doses to be donated by the COVAX Facility.
Given the limited supply, Solante said the country must again adopt a targeted immunization drive for the bivalent jabs and prioritize healthcare workers, senior citizens, the immunocompromised, and those with comorbidities.
“With this limited number of doses, we must prioritize the population most in need because we want to prevent these population to get the severe infection. These are the people we see in hospitals coming in because of the severe infection,” said Solante.
The DOH has said that already eligible to get the bivalent doses are healthcare workers (A1), and senior citizens (A2) as their third booster shots.
The guidelines also stated that a qualified individual may be vaccinated with the bivalent vaccines after at least four to six months from their second booster shots.
