Agusan del Sur records first case of UK COVID-19 variant
PROSPERIDAD, Agusan del Sur — Health authorities in Agusan del Sur province recorded the first case of new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection of the variant first discovered in the United Kingdom.
The patient is a female resident of San Toribio village in Esperanza town whose swab sample is among the seven sent for genome sequencing at the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center on May 26.
The woman, who had no travel history, was a direct contact of her parents who tested positive for SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19, on April 28.
After contact-tracing, she underwent home quarantine for two days, and eventually transferred to a local government-run isolation facility where she stayed for 14 days.
She was already declared to have fully recovered from the infection when provincial health authorities received the genome-sequencing result on Monday.
It was not yet known if her parents’ samples were also subjected to genome-sequencing.
Governor Santiago Cane said he had ordered extensive contact-tracing so they would be able to isolate those who have come in close contact with the woman and her parents.
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