MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) confirmed on Monday the country’s fourth case of the Omicron COVID-19 variant of concern.
According to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, the fourth case of the Omicron variant is a 38-year-old traveler from the United States who arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) on December 10 via Philippine Airlines flight PR 127.
“She was quarantined upon arrival. On December 13, she had throat itchiness and colds and her specimen was collected on December 14. When results turned positive on December 15, she was then placed in an isolation facility,” Vergeire said in an online media briefing.
“She was discharged asymptomatic after 10-day isolation on December 24. She remains asymptomatic as of this time and is scheduled to be retested tomorrow,” she added.
The patient is currently undergoing home isolation, according to Vergeire.
Vergeire said the DOH is coordinating with the Bureau of Quarantine regarding the flight manifest of PAL PR 127 so the department can monitor the health status of the patient’s close contacts.
“Rest assured na lahat naman po ng dumadating, kapag dumating po sila, for example coming from the US, sa yellow country (that all travelers who arrive in the country undergo our protocols. For example if they came from the US which is classified as a yellow country), they are all quarantined for five days, tested on the fifth day. Once negative, they are sent home but they have to do home quarantine until the 14th day,” the health official explained.
“So lahat naman po ay sumailalim dyan (So all the flight passengers went through that). But kinukuha po namin ang (we are trying to obtain the) flight manifest so we can monitor especially the close contacts of this individual,” she added.
The latest case of the Omicron variant was detected from 46 samples that were recently sequenced. Of the 46 samples, 38 were also positive of the Delta variant.
Based on the latest DOH tally, the country has so far detected four Omicron variant cases, 8,452 Delta variant cases, 3,630 Beta variant cases, 3,169 Alpha variant cases, and three Gamma variant cases.
The Delta variant remains the most dominant variant in the country, according to the health department.