12 cases of UK coronavirus variant surface in Mountain Province

BAGUIO CITY–Twelve cases of the UK variant of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were detected in Mountain Province, authorities said on Friday (Jan. 22).

All the patients were from Bontoc town, the capital of Mountain Province, and the infections have been traced to a cluster of cases in the province since Dec. 27 last year, records from the Department of Health (DOH) in Cordillera showed.

The patients, five women and seven men, were subjected to coronavirus tests from Jan. 3-9.

It was not immediately known how the patients contracted the more infectious UK strain of SARS Cov2, called B.1.1.7. It is said to be up to 70 percent more contagious.

On Jan.6, the DOH – Cordillera reported the isolation of a migrant worker based in the UK who returned to Mountain Province for the Christmas holiday.

He tested negative for the virus in Manila but was later confirmed to be infected when he complained of diarrhea and heart palpitations at a Bontoc hospital.

The United Kingdom is one of the European countries flagged by immigration and health officials due to the coronavirus variant.

In a statement, Bontoc Mayor Franklin Odsey said the local government was doing its best to contain the infections.

TSB