The Department of Health Zamboanga Peninsula office has confirmed the presence of three variants of concern in Zamboanga Peninsula, based on test results released by the University of the Philippines- Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC) last May 29, 2021.
Two samples tested positive for the B.1.1.7 variant which was first detected in the United Kingdom while 54 samples were positive for the B.1.351 or the South Africa variant.
One sample tested positive for the P.3 or the Philippine variant, currently classified as a variant of interest.
The samples were taken from COVID patients from Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Sibugay and Zamboanga del Sur provinces from March 29 to May 5, 2021.
Information released by the Zamboanga local government shows the majority of the variants are present in Zamboanga COVID patients.
A social media post by Zamboanga City mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said 52 samples from COVID patients in Zamboanga City were found positive for two COVID variants.
Of 257 samples tested, 51 were positive for the South African variant while one sample was positive for the Philippine variant.
A total of 37 patients testing positive for the South African variant have recovered while 15 have expired, according to Zamboanga health records.
The Department of Health regional office has gathered more samples for genomic bio-surveillance.