No recorded cases of the said coronavirus disease (COVID-19) variants IHU and Deltacron/Delmicron have been detected in the Philippines and that the country's local experts are still studying these, the Department of Health said on Monday, Jan. 10.
In a statement, DOH said that only the World Health Organization (WHO) can validate coronavirus disease (COVID-19) variants IHU, Deltacron and Flurona and determine if they are Variants under Monitoring (VUM), Variants of Interest (VOI), or Variants of Concern (VOC).
"In line with the recent reports regarding alleged variants of COVID 19 - Deltacron/Delmicron, Flurona, and IHU variants, the Department of Health would like to clarify that the World Health Organization (WHO) is the sole authority to validate these variants," DOH said in a statement sent to reporters.
Infectious disease expert Dr. Edsel Salvana has explained that Flurona, the combination of the Influenza virus and COVID-19 is not an unusual phenomenon and has already occurred in the Philippines.
Salvana said in a DOH press briefing that the first COVID-19 death in the Philippines back in January was a Chinese national who had both Influenza B, COVID-19 and Streptococcus pneumonia.
"It's an unfortunate confluence of events na naexpose ka sa dalawang pathogens (that you were exposed to two pathogens)," Salvana said.
Meanwhile, he also explained in a presentation during the President's pre-recorded public address according to the WHO, it is not a threat at this time and mentioned that even the people who wrote the paper from IHU, said that it is too early to speculate on the virological, epidemiologic, or clinical features of this IHU variant.
He said that IHU is the name of an institute in France po that described this particular lineage of the virus, and the WHO has already been monitoring this since November of last year.
Deltacron or Delmicron, on the other hand was said to be detected in Cyprus as a new strain that is a combination of Delta and Omicron.