Swab samples taken: 53 test negative; 1 test positive; 23 more awaiting results
(Eagle News) – At least 77 travelers from the United Kingdom were able to enter the country before the Philippines imposed a travel ban of UK flights on December 24 after news of a highly infectious virus variant, B.1.1.7, that was first detected in Britain.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said that the Department of Health is now closely monitoring these travelers who came from the UK before the December 24 ban, and had them tested for COVID-19.
Of those tested, 53 had tested negative, one had tested positive, while the rest — 23 more– are still awaiting results of their swab tests.
Duque said that the information was given to him by COVID-19 testing czar Vince Dizon, who also heads the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA).
He said that these 77 travelers from UK who are being monitored are under quarantine at the New Clark City where they will complete the 14-day quarantine period.
Although one of the travelers from UK had already tested positive for COVID-19, the genome scientists will still study of the virus samples taken from the said traveler had the new variant B.1.1.7, which is said to be 70 percent more infectious than previous SARS-CoV-2 strains.
SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19.
-Swab samples of passengers sent to RITM, PGC for analysis-
Duque said that the swab samples of the 77 passengers who came from the UK to the Philippines from December 22 to 25 were already sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and the Philippine Genome Center (PGC).
Originally, there were 79 passengers, but two had already returned to UK, based on the.
“Base sa report kahapon po, 59 na ang mayroon ng test results kung saan 53 ang negative ngunit may isa pong nagpositibo sa COVID at inaantabayanan natin ang 23 na natitirang resulta,” Duque told President Duterte on Saturday night, Dec. 26, during a televised meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) in Malacanang.
“Pero ‘yung testing po nito, Mr. President, hindi po nangangahulugan na ito na po ‘yung new variant dahil magsasagawa pa po ng pagsusuri ang atin pong mga eksperto mula sa Philippine Genome Center,” he said.
-Expanding travel ban, surveillance-
Medical and health experts, however, stressed to President Duterte the need to identify the other passengers who came from UK, or who passed through the UK through connecting flights and stop-overs, in the past two weeks before the December 24 travel ban, as there is still the possibility that one of these travelers have the new UK virus variant, B.1.1.7.
The medical scientists said it is important to test these passengers for COVID-19, or to get their swab samples so they could be analyzed and tested if these have the infectious B.1.1.7 variant.
The experts who were invited to Malacanang to share their insights also stressed the importance of implementing an effective bio-surveillance system nationwide.
“We can — we should protect not just from the flights that are coming from UK, but there should be a system in place na saan po talaga siya nanggaling whether dumaan man siya ng UK tapos nag-lay over siya somewhere,” said Dr. Alethea De Guzman of the DOH Epidemiology Bureau.
Dr. De Guzman also recommended that those with history of travel to UK in the past 14 days should not be allowed to enter the country. This would require a very strict screening process by the Bureau of Immigration.
“Pero ultimately, dapat po ‘pag may history of travel siya sa UK in the past 14 days, ito po ‘yung mga nililimita or hindi po muna natin papasukin sa Pilipinas. So probably the Bureau of Immigration kasi makikita po nila ‘yung stamp doon po sa dokumento,” she said.
The health expert also suggested a very strict border control at all ports of entry into the country where all those who will enter will be screened, and those coming from the UK or who had passed through that country in the last 14 days should not be allowed entry.
But they also warned that it would only be a matter of time before the highly infectious virus variant reaches Philippine shores, and that it is important for the country to be ready for this.
(Eagle News Service)