Authorities detected the new variant of coronavirus known as P.3 from majority of samples coming from Central Visayas, the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC) said.

The Department of Health (DOH) confirmed the detection of the P.3 variant, a new coronavirus variant which was first found in the Philippines, on Saturday, March 13.

“An emergent SARS-CoV-2 variant, now officially designated as Lineage P.3, has been detected in the Philippines with most of the samples coming from the Central Visayas Region,” the UP-PGC said in its SARS-CoV-2 Bulletin No. 7 also released on March 13.

The UP-PGC said cases of P.3 variant were initially identified from a sequencing conducted on Feb. 4, “and have since been detected in all subsequent sequencing batches.”

“To date, a total of 98 sequenced samples can be classified under this lineage, majority of which were collected from Central Visayas,” it said.

“The recorded collection dates of these samples coincide with a sharp increase in the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections registered in the said region,” it added.

PGC said that the earliest case was collected on Jan. 8.

The genome center said the combination of mutations in the variant requires further studies to determine their collective effects on the transmissibility (rate of infection), pathogenicity (severity of the disease), and immunogenicity (impact on vaccine efficacy) of the virus.

“The potential public health implications of the mutations call for strengthened measures to prevent the spread of P.3 to nearby islands of the archipelago and to other countries,” it added.

In February, the Health department detected two “mutations with potential clinical significance” or the N501Y and E484K in samples from Central Visayas.

“At present, the P.3 is not identified as a variant of concern as current available data are insufficient to conclude whether the variant will have significant public health implications,” the DOH said.