The government is monitoring the new coronavirus variant B.1.1.529 that already has cases in South Africa, acting presidential spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Friday.

During a Palace briefing, Nograles said members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) and the Department of Health (DOH) are largely aware of the variant described by experts as “heavily mutated.”

“We are monitoring—intently monitoring—this situation. We continue to conduct our genomic surveillance on the ground,” Nograles said in an interview.

He added the government is constantly exchanging information with the World Health Organization about the possible threat of the newly detected variant.

“We are awaiting their advisories if this variant is considered a variant of interest or a variant of concern,” Nograles said.Dana Krizia Sandoval, spokesperson of the Bureau of Immigration,

said in another interview that various systems are in place once the IATF sees the need to adjust the travel restrictions caused by emerging COVID-19 variants (see sidebar – Editors).