Close contacts of Filipina with new COVID-19 variant tracked, swabbed, monitored — DOH

MANILA, Philippines — The close contacts of the Filipina worker who was found positive for the new coronavirus variant in Hong Kong have been swabbed, quarantined, and are now being monitored, the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Singh-Vergeire said the individuals who the UK-variant positive Filipina had contact with were traced in Cagayan Valley and Metro Manila.

“In Solano, Cagayan [Valley] kung saan siya nanggaling, atin na pong na-contact, na-coordinate na, napuntahan na po itong close contacts at nakuhanan na po ng swab for RT-PCR at ito pong specimen din for genome sequencing ay nagawa na,” Vergeire said in a press briefing.

“Naipadala na po itong specimen na ito sa (The samples have been sent to the ) Philippine Genome Center. They are currently quarantined and being monitored—itong mga close contacts sa Solano Cagayan,” she added.

DOH Undersecretary and spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire. FILE PHOTO

Vergeire added that the close contacts in Metro Manila have also been swabbed.

“Mayroon kasi siyang manning agency dito [sa Metro Manila]. Lahat po ng naging close contact niya ay natunton naman po natin. They were all swabbed,” Vergeire said.

(She is under a manning agency here.  All close contacts have been traced and swabbed.)

Hong Kong earlier detected the presence of the new COVID-19 variant, believed to be more infectious, in the female passenger who returned from the Philippines on Dec. 22.

It was later identified that the passenger is a Filipina household service worker. 

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