One new case from Benguet is 84-year old man who died on Jan. 24
(Eagle News) – The Philippines now has a total of 25 detected UK variant cases, following the detection of eight additional cases, the Department of Health said Friday night, Feb . 5.
One of the confirmed cases had died. This was an 84-year old man from Benguet who had no travel history nor any known contact with any UK variant case. He died on Jan. 24, 2021.
“Following the sustained biosurveillance efforts of the government, the DOH confirms the detection of eight additional Covid-19 cases positive for the B.1.1.7 variant (UK variant),” the DOH said.
-First UK variant case detected in Cebu
Three of the eight new cases were from Bontoc, Mountain Province, while while two were from La Trinidad, Benguet. Two other UK variant cases were returning Overseas Filipinos (ROFs), while the other case is from Cebu.
This is the first time that a UK variant case has been detected in Cebu which had recently reported a spike in COVID-19 cases.
The DOH said that the case was a 35-year-old male from Liloan, Cebu with mild symptoms of the illness.
“He is tagged as an active case with mild disease and is currently being managed. The exposure and travel history of this case is also being verified,” the DOH said.
The department said that it will investigate this immediate and conduct intensified contact tracing there.
-UK variant case detected in a 15-yr old-
In La Trinidad, one of the two new cases reported there was a minor, a 15-year old female who is a relative of the previously identified UK variant case in the area.
The other is the 84-year old male who died on Jan. 24.
In Bontoc, the three new cases were the following: 2 females, aged 25 and 54, who were both close contacts of a previously reported UK variant case; and a 31-year old male with no known link to the Bontoc cluster previously reported.
-2 new UK variant cases from returning overseas Filipinos-
Meanwhile, the two cases of returning overseas Filipinos with the UK variant were the following:
– a 29-year-old female who arrived from the United Arab Emirates on January 7, 2021 onboard Philippine Airlines Flight PR 659; and
– a 54-year-old male whose flight details were not disclosed.
The Philippines’ first detected UK variant was from a man who travelled to the UAE late December last year for a short business trip. He had already recovered and tested negative for COVID-19.
The UK variant, known as variant B.1.1.7, is said to be up to 70 percent more infectious than previously known COVID-19 strains. But vaccine manufacturers such as Pfizer and AstraZeneca have both claimed that their vaccines were effective against the new strain.
It is the South African variant which presented a problem for vaccine developers as it appeared that vaccines so far were less effective against it, compared to the UK variant.
(Eagle News Service)