Infectious disease expert Rontgene Solante, on Thursday, May 23, said the public should not be alarmed by the new Covid-19 Variants Under Monitoring (VUM), JN.1.18, KP.2, and KP.3.
Solante, who is also the president of the Philippine College of Physicians, emphasized that these variants are "just an ordinary uptick."
"Well, first of all, we should not be alarmed because this is just an ordinary (Covid-19) uptick," Solante said in a mix of English and Filipino during PTV's Bagong Pilipinas public briefing.
He explained that these new variants do not mean that the infection will continue to spread as it did in 2020 or 2021.
"In countries where cases like this are increasing, this does not continue," he said
"These are temporary uptick. But still, let us not panic. Let us not be alarmed," he added.
However, Solante underscored the importance of not panicking or being alarmed, emphasizing to the public that the focus should be on protecting themselves, as Covid-19 is not the only disease that can cause respiratory symptoms.
"There is pneumonia, there is influenza, there is respiratory syncytial virus.There are really a lot of microbes that we can get, especially in these times," the expert said.
On May 17, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported the three new variants.
These variants are descendants of JN.1 and are known informally as “FLiRT” due to specific amino acid changes in the virus' spike protein.
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'No longer protected from first vaccines'
Meanwhile, Solante said that these Covid-19 new variants "are no longer protected from the first vaccines that we have received."
"In fact, there are reformulated vaccines, updated Covid vaccines, but they are not available here in the Philippines," he said.
"But if we talk about vaccines now, we are all vulnerable. That is why we will tell the public to be careful and be careful with our symptoms because we can get severe, especially for the elderly, even if you are vaccinated," he added.