9 with UK variant may have accelerated COVID-19 spread in Tuguegarao

A senior citizen gets vaccinated against COVID-19 inside a mall in Tuguegarao City. (Photo by Villamor Visaya Jr.)

TUGUEGARAO CITY — The Tuguegarao City government has asked health officials to determine if nine patients infected with the B.1.1.7 SARS CoV2 (or the United Kingdom variant) were responsible for the accelerated transmissions now plaguing the city.

Tuguegarao Mayor Jefferson Soriano made this appeal in his Thursday (May 27) letter to the Department of Health after the city recorded an average daily attack rate (ADAR) of 26.63 percent. The ADAR measures the proportion of infected cases against the population to determine the potential trajectory of COVID-19 in a town or a neighborhood.

The mayor said the variant patients may have some influence on ADAR.

Often, patients who acquired the more contagious form of COVID-19 were discovered by genome tests after they have recovered and have been discharged, so Soriano asked for a system so their movement and their health can continuously be monitored.

As of May 28, the city had 673 active cases including 85 new cases while the death toll is now at 91.

Tuguegarao’s total COVID-19 cases has reached 5,987 cases.  VILLAMOR VISAYA JR

/MUF

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