MANILA - The Philippine 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 the 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 widely aware of the variant described by experts as "heavily mutated". "We are monitoring intently monitoring itong situation na ito. Patuloy pa rin po ang ginagwa nating(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 waiting their advisories kung ito bang variant na ito (if this variant) is considered a varia