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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Omicron's mild symptoms not conclusive yet - expert

Omicron's mild symptoms not conclusive yet - expert

Published Jan 3, 2022 05:40 pm

It is still difficult to conclude if coronavirus disease (COVID-19) variant Omicron does have less severe symptoms than other variants of concern such as Delta, according to an infectious disease expert.

(Fusion Medical Animation/ Unsplash)

Dr. Edsel Salvana made the statement during a press briefing by the Department of Health (DOH) where he shared the latest data of a study from the United Kingdom comparing 500,000 patients with Omicron and 500,000 patients with Delta which showed that Omicron is less severe than Delta by about three-fold less.

"So one-third yung hospitalizations from Omicron compared to Delta across all groups whether vaccinated or unvaccinated," he added.

Currently, the DOH has recorded 11 imported cases and three local cases of the Omicron variant in the Philippines. Nine of them are returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs), while two are foreign nationals. DOH explained that all local Omicron cases have been located and traced and have completed the minimum 10-day isolation and have been tagged as recovered prior to the release of the whole genome results.

DOH said that all of them were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms and none have manifested severe conditions or resulted in death.

But when it comes to symptoms, Salvana said that it is not yet clear if Omicron has unique symptoms. Although he said there have been instances wherein patients did not experience losing their sense of taste and smell. He also mentioned that it's hard to protect oneself from Omicron since 40 percent of the cases are asymptomatic.

What's important according to Salvana is to protect those who are most vulnerable because even though there were studies showing Omicron is less severe, those who are vulnerable remain to have a high chance of getting a severe case of COVID-19. He even added that those who have been vaccinated and got COVID-19 before can still get infected by Omicron.

Despite indications that Omicron may only be affecting the upper airway of the body and does not do much damage to the lungs according to Salvana, it's important not to be complacent.

"Mayroon pa ring magkakaroon ng severe, mayroon pa ring mamamatay so kinakailangang mag-ingat at tuloy tuloy pa rin yung pagbabakuna natin (There are still those who can get severe COVID-19, there are those who may die, so we still need to stay safe and continue our vaccinations)," he said.

Related Tags

covid-19 COVID-19 cases NCR COVID-19 CASES COVID-19 case surge Omicron OMICRON VARIANT omicron threat
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