MANILA, Feb. 12 -- The Department of Health (DOH), the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC), and the UP-National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH) confirm the detection of nineteen (19) additional COVID-19 cases positive for the B.1.1.7 variant (UK variant). This brings the total B.1.1.7 variant cases in the country to 44. The DOH, UP-PGC, and UP-NIH further report that no other variant of concern was detected, and 60 samples from Region 7 fitting sequencing criteria were negative for the B.1.1.7 variant. The 19 additional cases were part of the sixth batch of 718 samples sequenced by the UP-PGC on February 8, 2021. The sixth batch of samples were sourced from all regions, except BARMM, and were selected to ensure representation of each region as well as areas where spikes in cases have been reported.