17 UK variant patients in Cordillera now well – DOH

BAGUIO CITY—All of the 17 remaining patients in Cordillera with the more contagious UK variant of the coronavirus have recovered, an official of the Department of Health (DOH) said on Wednesday.

The group includes the first batch and the latest group of UK variant cases in Mountain Province and Benguet, said Dr. Ruby Constantino, DOH director in Cordillera.

Bontoc epicenter

But three of them have been required to stay in isolation until the results of their exit swab tests are released, Constantino told a press briefing here.

Mountain Province’s capital town of Bontoc had been the epicenter of the UK variant outbreak in the country, where 12 cases were reported in Barangay Samoki in January.

The DOH said a COVID-19 patient in La Trinidad, Benguet, was the first and only fatality among the UK variant cases. He died on Jan. 24, but was listed as part of the second batch of UK variant cases only on Feb. 4.

A 15-year-old girl in La Trinidad is also among the latest batch of patients with the B.1.1.7 strain. She is the sister of Benguet’s first UK variant patient, a 22-year-old employee of a supply shop.

Constantino said about 600 people who had interacted with the 18 UK variant patients in Cordillera had been tracked down and tested.

But the source of the infection has yet to be traced. A family who lived in the United Kingdom and spent Christmas with their Bontoc parents had been the initial suspects when the father was infected with the coronavirus. But the genome sequencing of his sample showed that he did not have the UK variant.

As of Wednesday, the Cordillera region has been downgraded to low risk epidemic level, Constantino said.

The region has recorded 12,617 coronavirus infections since 2020, with 757 patients still in quarantine and receiving treatment.

Crossed borders

Mountain Province and Baguio City have been classified as moderate risk, while Benguet has been tagged as a low risk zone.

But health workers are monitoring Baguio and Kalinga province for signs of the mutated virus because some people who may have been exposed to UK variant patients may have crossed these borders.

Constantino said tests had been accelerated in Tabuk City in Kalinga, where the behavior of infections was similar to the spike of cases in Bontoc.

A surveillance and diagnostic team in Baguio City has put together a link map and determined that some of the UK variant patients are connected with Baguio COVID-19 cases.

Baguio on Tuesday activated 25 vaccination teams in the event the city gets a share from the first batch of vaccines arriving this month from the global vaccine sharing scheme COVAX. The initial batch of Pfizer vaccines will be given to hospital staff in Metro Manila.

Along with the provinces of Apayao and Abra, Baguio is also prepared for the coronavirus vaccine rollout, said Dr. Anachris Kilakil, the DOH medical officer overseeing the vaccine program in Cordillera.

The three local governments have fulfilled or are about to complete all requirements for a uniform and efficient immunization drive, Kilakil said.

But only Baguio has ultralow temperature freezers capable of stocking Pfizer vaccines, she said.

More infections

The coronavirus epidemic in the country has not shown signs of easing, with 1,345 additional infections being reported on Wednesday, bringing the overall number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 541,560.

The DOH said 114 more patients had died, raising the death toll from the severe respiratory disease to 11,401.

It said 59 of those who had died had been previously reported as recovered, and nine who had been previously recorded as having died had actually recovered.

The DOH put the number of new recoveries at 276, bringing the total number of COVID-19 survivors to 499,971.

The deaths and recoveries left the country with 30,188 active cases, of which 88.2 percent were mild, 6.1 percent asymptomatic, 0.6 percent moderate, 2.5 percent severe, and 2.6 percent critical. —WITH A REPORT FROM DONA Z. PAZZIBUGAN