DAGUPAN CITY –– A resident of Umingan town in Pangasinan has tested positive for the UK variant (B117) of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), officials said on Tuesday.
The patient is the first known case of the more contagious variant in the province.
Umingan Mayor Michael Carleone Cruz announced this as he released the result of a test done on the patient he identified only as “Umingan Case 35.”
The University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center conducted the genome sequencing of the sample taken from the patient on March 3.
The result was released to the Department of Health on March 19.
The patient, a 58-year-old woman, used to be the caregiver of another patient, who recently died due to COVID-19, the Inquirer learned.
It was not known if the fatality was infected with the UK variant.