The Department of Health (DOH) confirmed that an individual infected with the United Kingdom (UK) variant of COVID-19 in the Philippines has died.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the 84-year-old patient who succumbed to the disease last January was from La Trinidad, Benguet.
The casualty was one of the 25 total UK variant cases in the country. Two of them are still active. It was announced last Friday that eight more cases of the more transmissible strain were detected.
Meanwhile, the normal operation of the Philippine Genome Center in detecting the new variant of COVID-19 is expected to resume this week.
“Ang total number natin ngayon that have been sampled or sequenced since the start is 1,227. Ngayong linggo po ay makakapag-schedule tayo ng 720 samples (The current total number that has been sampled or sequenced since the start is 1,227. This week, we can schedule 270 samples),” Vergeire reported. – Report from Mark Fetalco
