The executive director of the Philippine Genome Center said on Tuesday that the Philippines could have its own COVID-19 variant.

The statement comes as the world faces the threats of variants of SARS-COV2 discovered in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil leading to more infections in various countries.

“We know that the possibility of a local variant is there,” PGC Executive Director Cynthia Saloma told CNN Philippines.

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The genome center is responsible for conducting genome sequencing samples from COVID-19 patients to determine if they have the UK variant.

So far, the center has detected 17 samples with the more infectious UK COVID-19 variant since January 13.

The health department also confirmed that there is now a local transmission of the variant in Bontoc, Mountain Province since 12 of its residents became infected with the virus.

“That’s why it’s important to lower the cases because the more hosts there are, the higher the possibility of the virus mutating in the host. So without a host, the virus cannot mutate,” Saloma added.

Studies showed that the new variants can be more transmissible. In the UK for example, the variant B.1.1.7, spreads up to 70% quicker than other variants.

Health authorities revealed on Monday that the carrier of the UK COVID-19 variant in Bontoc Province is still unknown after infecting 12 residents in the area.

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Karen Lonogan, senior health program officer of the Department of Health (DOH) Cordillera said that the suspected carrier, an overseas Filipino worker from the United Kingdom who went home last month tested positive for COVID-19 but negative for the UK variant based on the sequencing conducted by the PGC.

The OFW arrived last December 11 and was allowed to go home after testing negative the next day.

The DOH Cordillera also said that it has yet to get the results of an infected salesman from La Trinidad, Benguet if he was infected with the UK variant.

“Iyong isang taga-Bontoc, he tested negative [for COVID-19] upon arrival last December 13. December 14 nakauwi siya sa kanila. Noong December 25, nagkaroon sila ng pagdiriwang dahil Pasko. Tapos December 26, they had a ritual as part of their beliefs. December 29 na siya nagkaroon ng sintomas,” DOH Spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online briefing.

The DOH official added that some 144 close contacts have been identified and 116 of them were already tested for the virus.

The UK variant case in La Trinidad, Benguet also infected four other people and most of them were household members. (TDT)