Webinar #41 | “COVID-19 Variants of Concern in the Philippines: Are We Ready?”
Channel: TVUP
Date: 18/02/2021

The University of the  
Philippines in partnership with 
UP Manila NIH National Telehealth Center  
and in cooperation with 
UP Philippine General Hospital 
would like to invite you to join the Fight Against COVID-19! 


Webinar #41 “COVID-19 Variants of Concern in the Philippines: Are We Ready?”  
February 19, 2021 (Friday) 12nn 

Presenter: 
Dr. Eva Cutiongco- Dela Paz 
Director, National Institutes of Health 
Program Director for Health, Philippine Genome Center 

Reactors: 
Dr. Raul Destura 
Microbiologist and Infectious Disease Specialist 
Philippine Genome Center 

Dr. Jubert Benedicto 
Associate Professor, UP College of Medicine Head, 
PGH-CCU Management Action Team 

Opening Remarks: 
Dr. Cynthia Rose B. Bautista 
VP for Academic Affairs 
University of the Philippines System

Closing Remarks: 
Dr. Carmencita D. Padilla 
Chancellor 
University of the Philippines Manila


Special Topic 
In our first webinar for 2021, we talked about expected mutations and variants of SARSCov2. News on  COVID-19 variants becoming dominant in the UK, South Africa, and Brazil - triggered a flurry of research  around the work to scale-up genetic surveillance of SARSCov2. In the Philippines the seat of this research  is the Philippine Genome Center that did the early tracking of the virus strain last year and continues to  research on mutations in our country.  
Is the UK, South Africa, or Brazil variant present in the Philippines? Where has it been detected? 
If a new strain becomes dominant, what is the impact on testing for SARSCov2? What do we know about  the clinical management of patients infected with the new variants? Are there treatments that are no longer  effective for the new variants? 
In this webinar, we will hear from Dr. Eva Cutiongco-Dela Paz, Program Director for Health at the  Philippine Genome Center, on the presence of variants in the Philippines. Dr Raul Destura, creator of the  first Philippine test kit for SARSCov2, will talk about the implications for testing. Dr. Jubert Benedicto,  Head of the PGH CCU-Management Action Team and an Associate Professor at UP PGH, will discuss  research findings on treatment against the new variants. 
Join us and stay informed and up to date as we adapt and adjust to the evolution of SARSCov2 during the  pandemic. 
Stay Safe. Stay Healthy. Stay Connected.  
TogetherwecanSTOPCOVIDDEATHS!