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Australia probes first probable Omicron community case

Reuters
Updated as of Nov 30 12:58 PM

Australian authorities said Tuesday an international traveler who was most likely infected with the Omicron variant has spent time in the community. Read more »

Hong Kong expands travel curbs on Omicron fears

Marius Zaharia and Renju Jose, Reuters
Updated as of Nov 30 12:35 PM

Hong Kong expanded a ban on entry for non-residents from several countries as global health authorities raced to curb a potential outbreak of Omicron. Read more »

PNP ready to implement face shield use policy if adopted anew

ABS-CBN News
Updated as of Nov 29 01:07 PM

The PNP said it is ready to implement the mandatory use of face shields, if adopted again by the government amid the threat of the Omicron variant. Read more »

Pinoys urged: Get vaccinated amid Omicron variant threat

ABS-CBN News
Posted at Nov 29 09:40 AM

A public health expert on Monday urged more people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 amid growing concerns about the new Omicron coronavirus variant. Read more »

Omicron closes borders across the globe

Danny Kemp with AFP bureaus, Agence France-Presse
Posted at Nov 29 08:24 AM

A new, heavily mutated COVID-19 variant spread across the globe on Sunday, shutting borders and renewing curbs. Read more »

PH, other Asian markets fall amid new COVID-19 variant scare

ABS-CBN News
Posted at Nov 27 03:55 AM

Asian markets fall across the board as a new COVID-19 variant spooks investors. Read more »

DOH: COVID-19 mutations in Central Visayas to be classified under P3 variant

ABS-CBN News
Updated as of Mar 16 12:01 AM

The Philippine health department said new COVID-19 variants account for only seven percent of the country's coronavirus infections. Read more »

India to test travelers from Brazil, S. Africa, UK after detecting new virus strains

Reuters
Posted at Feb 18 02:43 PM

India will make COVID-19 molecular tests mandatory for people arriving directly or indirectly from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil in a bid to contain the spread of more infectious virus variants found in those countries. Read more »

DOH traces contacts of MRT cluster-linked UK variant case

Kristine Sabillo, ABS-CBN News
Posted at Feb 16 05:54 PM

Samples from contacts of a patient who contracted the UK variant case will soon undergo genome sequencing to check if these people also acquired the more transmissible COVID-19 variant, the Department of Health said Tuesday.  Read more »

1 of newly confirmed UK variant cases linked to MRT COVID-19 cluster, says DOH

Kristine Sabillo, ABS-CBN News
Updated as of Feb 15 09:38 PM

MANILA (UPDATE) — One of the additional UK variant cases announced last week is from Metro Manila and is linked to the cluster of COVID-19 cases in the MRT, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday. Read more »

Reagents for genome sequencing of COVID-19 variants good for a month, more to arrive: DOH

Kristine Sabillo, ABS-CBN News
Posted at Feb 08 07:28 PM

The Philippines has enough supplies to run COVID-19 samples through genome sequencing for a month, the Department of Health said Monday. Read more »

Philippines logs first death among UK COVID-19 variant cases

Kristine Sabillo, ABS-CBN News
Posted at Feb 08 12:41 PM

The Philippines has recorded its first fatality due to the more transmissible COVID-19 variant, the health department said Monday.   Read more »

Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine remained active vs S. Africa variant, effect reduced - study

ABS-CBN News
Posted at Feb 03 01:26 PM

The paper was written by researchers from Sinopharm-affiliated Beijing Institute of Biological Products, the Institute of Microbiology of Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is co-developing a candidate with Zhifei unit, and two other Chinese agencies.   Read more »

UK virus variant has developed concerning new mutation in small number of cases

Estelle Shirbon and Alistair Smout, Reuters
Posted at Feb 03 01:08 AM

LONDON - The UK variant of the coronavirus has developed a new, concerning mutation in a small number of cases, which scientists said makes it similar to the South African and Brazilian variants and could reduce the efficacy of vaccines. Read more »

DOH: New set of genome-sequencing results negative for new COVID-19 variant

ABS-CBN News
Posted at Jan 30 09:42 PM

Of the 48 samples tested, 23 came from the capital region and were mostly from Quezon City, 19 from Calabarzon and were mostly from Laguna. Read more »

‘Case closed,’ says DOH of Filipina in HK with UK COVID-19 variant

Kristine Sabillo, ABS-CBN News
Posted at Jan 29 12:38 PM

MANILA — With all of her contacts in the Philippines already tested and found negative of the more transmissible COVID-19 variant, the case of the Filipina domestic helper in Hong Kong who had contracted the virus' UK strain has been deemed “case closed,” the Department of Health said Friday. Read more »

Pfizer-BioNTech say COVID-19 vaccine works against UK, S. Africa variants

Agence France-Presse
Posted at Jan 28 04:33 PM

Pfizer and BioNTech, makers of a COVID-19 vaccine, said on Thursday that their product is effective against coronavirus variants that have emerged in Britain and South Africa. Read more »

DOH looking into 8 returning Pinoys for possible source of new COVID variant in Bontoc

Kristine Sabillo, ABS-CBN News
Posted at Jan 27 01:06 PM

The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday said it is looking at 8 overseas Filipino who returned to the Cordillera Administrative Region, to find the source of the new COVID-19 variant that spread in Bontoc, Mountain Province.  Read more »

PH expands ban to foreign travelers from Czech Republic over new COVID-19 variant

ABS-CBN News
Posted at Jan 26 10:14 PM

MANILA - Foreign travelers from the Czech Republic are banned from entering the Philippines from Jan. 28 until Jan. 31, Malacañang said Friday, after the UK COVID-19 variant was detected in the European country. Read more »

DOH: Restricting 10- to 14-year-olds to give gov’t time to know extent of UK variant spread

Kristine Sabillo, ABS-CBN News
Posted at Jan 26 06:54 PM

Currently, there are 17 UK-variant cases in the Philippines, although it is unclear how some of them were infected. Read more »