Facade of the DOH main office in Manila. INQUIRER.net file photo / Consuelo Marquez
MANILA, Philippines — Forty of the 44 patients with confirmed cases of the more transmissible UK variant of Covid-19 have already recovered from the disease, the Department of Health (DOH) said Tuesday.
Dr. Alethea de Guzman, medical specialist at the DOH Epidemiology Bureau, said in an online media forum that only three of the 44 cases remain active.
She said the three remaining active cases are a returning overseas Filipino (ROF) from the United Arab Emirates, a local case from Sabangan, Mountain Province, and another local case from Bukidnon province.
“They remain in isolation while they are completing ‘yung kanilang number of days of isolation at habang tinatapos natin ‘yung investigation at contact tracing,” de Guzman said.
(They remain in isolation while completing the quarantine period and while we conduct investigation and contact tracing.)
The DOH earlier confirmed that one of the patients, an 84-year-old man from La Trinidad, Benguet province, died on January 24.
Of the 44 total cases of the variant, 28 are local infections and 15 are ROFs. De Guzman said the DOH is still verifying if the other case is a local case or a returning Filipino.
Meanwhile, of the 28 local cases, 14 are linked to the Bontoc cluster and two belong to the La Trinidad, Benguet cluster. The linkage of the other cases is still being verified.
De Guzman further said that the DOH has noted minimal transmission of the UK variant to other individuals as long as the cases are immediately detected and proper response efforts are initiated.
She said that of the new UK variant cases, only three appear to be linked to previously reported confirmed cases in the country. She said this shows that the government’s strategy on responding to detected UK variant cases is working.
“If only we initiate, if we are aggressive in our contact tracing, if we ensure that isolation and quarantine protocols are being implemented, we cut that chain of transmission,” de Guzman added.
The DOH earlier noted that the variant, called B.1.1.7 which was first reported in the United Kingdom, before demonstrated higher transmissibility but no evidence that it increased infectivity, pathogenicity, or virulence.”