The Department of Health (DOH) has said that not all viruses that go ‘viral’ warrant a formal statement and that the agency would prefer focusing on issues backed by data.
“Similar to the now fully debunked ‘hMPV’ false alarm, the DOH wishes to avoid commenting on each and every ‘new’ virus published until there is sufficient cause for comment,” Health Assistant Secretary Albert Domingo said.
This rumored hMPV or human metapneumovirus epidemic gained traction online following reports of over-crowded hospitals in China. The DOH clarified it is a cold-season virus.
“Let us focus on what matters and what the data tells us to be of concern,” Domingo urged.
The statement was released in response to the discovery of a new bat coronavirus similar to COVID-19, according to a Thursday report from Hong Kong.
The virus has raised concerns about the threat of animal-to-human transmission, as it shares identical receptors with COVID, found a study published on February 18.
It has been observed, however, that the virus does not readily infect human cells, unlike COVID. Additionally, the research team stressed that the likelihood of large-scale human transmission is low.
Domingo also said that the DOH has yet to receive a notification from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Health Regulations (IHR).
