THERE is a big possibility that the recent surge of COVID-19 cases in Pangasinan during the first three weeks of the new year was a result of the community transmission spawned by the new Omicron variant.

This was aired by Provincial Health Officer Dr. Anna de Guzman citing the results of the gnome sequencing released belatedly by the Philippine Gnome Center that confirmed that four Omicron variants were detected in the province, 3 in Pangasinan, one in Dagupan City.

The latest Omicron case in Pangasinan was a balikbayan, who arrived December 26, 2021 and who had already completed isolation on  January 17, 2022. The other was a returning Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) but did not identify the third Omicron variant carrier.

The lone Omicron carrier in Dagupan was also a balikbayan from London, England. Dr. Ophelia Rivera, COVID-19 focal person in Dagupan, said the close contacts and other persons exposed to the balikbayan are being traced and advised to report to the City Health Office or isolate themselves.

De Guzman, however, pointed out that all had mild symptoms only and have already recovered after completing their required isolation period.

She told the Sangguniang Panlalawigan during its Question Hour on January 17 that the increasing number of cases owing to community transmission could be attributed to the Omicron variant since the majority of the cases were milder and asymptomatic, and did not require hospitalization.

She maintained that the 1,705 in Pangasinan and 572 in Dagupan, cannot be associated  with the Delta variant that caused the COVID-19 surge from July to September last year.

She described the Omicron variant as a highly infectious and aggressive variant but the upside is it is virulent and less potent unlike Delta variant and other past variants.

Asked by Board Member Jeremy Agerico Rosario if the Omicron variant requires lesser time of quarantine, she said fully vaccinated infected by Omicron, must undergo 7-days quarantine and 10 days for those partially vaccinated and unvaccinated.

He said home quarantine can be allowed for asymptomatic persons afflicted with Omicron provided the patient is quarantined in a room with a toilet. If this cannot be met, the patients should be brought to the LGU-isolation facilities.

She said persons given first dose of the vaccine in the province have reached 1.9 million (77%) while fully vaccinated persons totaled 1.6 million (66.23%), higher than the 50% target in  January 17, making the vaccine a game changer.

The remaining challenge, she said are the estimated 556,000 unvaccinated persons in Pangasinan and Dagupan City that includes the 400,000, 5-11 years old targets. (Leonardo Micua/Jerick Pasiliao)

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