QC traces 350 close contacts of OFW with UK variant, only 2 positive for Covid

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — Only two of the 350 close contacts of the former overseas Filipino worker from Korea, who tested positive for the UK variant, were infected with Covid-19, according to Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte on Tuesday.

“We were able to contact trace 350 individuals. Can you imagine that? Resources being spent on one person just because protocols were not followed,” Belmonte said in an interview over the ABS-CBN News Channel.

“Thankfully, only two people were found to be positive, and of these two people, we’re still waiting for the results from the Philippine Genome Center as to whether they have the UK variant,” she added. “It was a very tough thing to do.”

The 35-year-old patient, who hails from Liloan, Cebu, is one of the 62 cases of the more transmissible B117 variant of Covid-19. He is currently on quarantine at Riverside, Barangay Commonwealth.

The Department of Health (DOH) earlier sought the help of the National Bureau of Investigation to track down the man after it was reported that he had left the country.

Meanwhile, Belmonte also bared that the Quezon City local government has already filed a case against the patient’s manning agency for transporting the infected patient to Quezon City without informing city authorities.

“We have filed a case against this manpower agency,” she said, adding that it was a “clear cut case of negligence” on the part of the manning agency.

“I also want to find out why he was released from the hotel knowing he was positive and not brought directly to a quarantine facility. Why he was released to a grab driver hired by the manning agency rather than released to a medical vehicle and brought directly to a quarantine facility,” she added.

JPV