QC isolating 143 individuals in all, including contacts of “close contacts”
(Eagle News) — Quezon City mayor Joy Belmonte said they are also contact-tracing and testing nine other Quezon City residents who were listed in the manifesto of the Emirates flight boarded by the COVID-19 patient who was later found to have the so-called UK strain, or variant B.1.1.7.
They are among the 143 individuals that they have already traced as contacts of the positive COVID-19 case who came from UAE. They include “first-generation contacts” or the so-called close-contacts, and the second-generation contacts or the contacts of the firt-generation contacts of the patient.
Belmonte said that they have already received the manifest of Emirates Flight No. EK 332 which arrived in Manila on Jan. 7 from the UAE, the same flight where the patient, a Quezon City resident, was in.
“We got the manifesto ng mga pasahero na kasama nya sa eroplano na taga-Lungsod Quezon. There are nine. At unti-unti na nating tine-trace ang mga pasaherong ito,” he said in an an interview with NET25’s Mata ng Agila.
-No need for alarm, lockdown in Bgy. Kamuning-
Mayor Belmonte said that that there is also no need for alarm as city health officials are doing the proper isolation, testing and quarantine protocols in the contract- tracing of those who may have been in contact with the 29-year old male COVID case who was a resident of Bgy. Kamuning in Quezon City. He travelled to the United Arab Emirates from Dec. 27 to Jan. 7, along with a female companion. He tested positive for COVID-19 when his swab was taken upon arrival in the country.
He was later found to be also positive for the B.1.1.7 variant which is said to be up to 70 percent more infectious than the original COVID-19 strain. This virus strain was first detected in the United Kingdom.
Belmonte said that all of the patient’s possible contacts, including his relatives, his female companion, and the health workers who had tested the patient, and the members of the Barangay Health Emergency Response Team (BHERT) who had brought him to the isolation facility were also being tested and isolated.
The mayor said that there is also no reason yet to place on lockdown Bgy. Kamuning which was where the patient had been residing before his travel to the UAE.
This was because he has not been to his house since he came back from the UAE. He had tested negative for COVID-19 prior to his travel to UAE.
“Hindi po siya lumapag nanatili o bumisita sa Bgy. Kamuning pagkatapos niyang mag-test ng positive pagkarating galing Dubai,” Belmonte said.
She said that the patient was brought to a quarantine hotel in Manila upon his arrival from the airport. When his test results came out and he was found to be COVID-positive, he was then brought to an isolation facility in Quezon City. At the said isolation facility, no other patient was accepted.
His family members had also been tested for COVID-19.
Belmonte also expressed sadness that there were people already discriminating against residents of Bgy. Kamuning.
“This is unnecesary fear,” she said. In fact, Kamuning is one of our best barangays in terms of active cases. Napaka-konti nga po ng active cases sa barangay Kamuning. Wala po tayong batayan para i-lockdown ang Bgy. Kamuning.”
The city mayor said that the announcement by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, where he revealed the Quezon City barangay where the new COVID-19 variant case resided, had caused unnecessary panic.
“Dahil po sa anunsyo ng ating mahal na kalihim ay nagkaroon ng panic. This caused a lot of problems in the barangay,” she said.
(Eagle News Service)