MANILA, Philippines — So far, there was no reported spike of Covid-19 cases in Calamba, Laguna, despite the detection of the more infectious variant of the new coronavirus in the locality, the Department of Health (DOH) said Tuesday.
The country’s earliest case of the UK Covid-19 variant was a 23-year-old man from Calamba whose specimen was collected on December 10, 2020. He was among the 16 new B.1.1.7 cases reported by the DOH last Friday.
Dr. Althea de Guzman, a medical specialist at the DOH Epidemiology Bureau, said DOH, upon the release of genome sequencing results, immediately looked at whether there was a recorded spike of Covid-19 cases in areas that reported the new variant.
“Tiningnan din namin ‘yung datos ng Calamba at ‘yung barangay kung saan naka-indicate ang kanyang residence, pero sa ngayon wala kaming nakikita na pag-spike (We looked at the data in Calamba and the barangay where the patient was residing, but as of now, we have not seen a spike in cases),” she said in an online media forum.
“In fact, if I remember it correctly, the data of Calamba is showing a negative growth rate rather than positive growth [of cases],” she added.
De Guzman noted this could be an indication that there was proper implementation of quarantine and contact tracing for the close contacts of the patient in Calamba.
She said local authorities in the city have conducted contact tracing for the patient when he tested positive for Covid-19 in December.
“But we are waiting for the detailed information kung kailan nasimulan, sinu-sino ang mga naging close contacts at ano ang ginawa, na-quarantine or na-test ba ‘yung mga close contacts in relation to our Calamba City case,” she added.
(But we are waiting for detailed information on when the contact tracing was done, who are the close contacts and what has been done to them, whether they were quarantined or tested.)
A DOH statement on Monday night indicated that the 23-year-old patient “has completed his isolation” and that his “travel history, exposure, and other details are being verified.”
On January 13, DOH reported that the B.1.1.7 variant in the Philippines was first detected from a male resident of Quezon City who departed for Dubai on December 27 and arrived in the Philippines last January 7.
However, Dr. Edsel Salvana from the DOH-Technical Advisory Group explained that the department is looking at previous Covid-19 positive samples to make sure there is no widespread transmission of the virus variant in the country. Hence, the detection of the B.1.1.7 variant from the patient in Calamba.
“This was part of the reason why we’re actually looking for samples from October, November, and December. Wala pa namang nakita noong October and November, and isa po ‘yung nakita doon sa December (We have not recorded a UK variant positive case from samples collected in October and November, but we saw one from December). These are retrospective samples,” he said in an online press briefing on Saturday.
Information from the Calamba City Health Office showed that as of Monday, the city has already recorded a total of 4,490 Covid-19 cases, consisting of 62 active cases, 4,354 recoveries, and 74 deaths.
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