Thirteen of the 213 contacts of the first case of the United Kingdom (UK) variant of COVID-19 in the country tested positive for COVID-19.
According to the Department of Health (DOH), among the confirmed cases of COVID-19 are eight passengers of the Emirates Flight EK 332 last January 7. The girlfriend of the first case and two other passengers of the flight who previously tested negative for the disease have turned out positive after undergoing RT-PCR test anew.
The mother of the patient also tested positive but with low viral load, similar to the case of the girlfriend and the other passengers.
The first case of the UK variant in the country is reportedly in stable condition.
The Department of Health (DOH) have transported the samples to the Philippine Genome Center to determine if they were also infected by the same variant. The results of the genome sequencing are expected to come out by Thursday or Friday this week.
The healthcare worker who attended to the first case also tested positive for the disease.
“Further investigation revealed that this specific person was a recovering patient already. Noong December po, I think second week nag-positive siya (I think the person tested positive during the second week of December),” DOH USec. Maria Rosario Vergeire stated.
“Mataas ang CT value, so malaki ang indikasyon na nandoon siya sa recovery stage kaya siya nagpositive during that time (The CT value was high, so there is a big indication that the person was on recovery stage, leading to a positive result during that time),” Vergeire elucidated.
Meanwhile, four more passengers of Emirates Flight EK 332 are still being searched by authorities. – Report from Mark Fetalco