1st Bicolano to get UK coronavirus variant recovers, says DOH

LEGAZPI CITY—Health officials said the first Bicolano to test positive for the more contagious, but not deadlier UK variant of coronavirus has already recovered.

The carrier, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) from Camarines Sur province, had tested positive for the UK variant, becoming the first from the Bicol region to get the virus, the Department of Health regional office said on Friday (Feb. 26).

Dr. Ernie Vera, DOH regional director and vice chair of the Bicol Interagency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease (BIATF), said the UK variant case was considered as imported so there was no local transmission.

The patient has since recovered, Vera said.

In a statement on Friday, Vera said the male OFW returned to the Philippines from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last Jan. 1 and tested positive for the virus in Manila. He was sent to quarantine immediately.

Test specimens were sent to the Philippine Genome Center, which found the OFW positive for the UK variant, which health experts said was up to 70 percent more contagious but not deadlier than the original variant of SARS Cov2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The OFW was sent to quarantine in Manila for 14 days before the Overseas Workers Welfare AdministratIon (OWWA) helped him return to his hometown in Camarines Sur.

Upon arrival in his hometown, the OFW was again put on quarantine for another 14 days and monitored until Feb. 22 before he was allowed to return to his home.

All close contacts of the OFW had been traced and tested, Vera said.

On Thursday (Feb. 25), the DOH in Bicol listed 18 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the region’s tally to 4,475 since the pandemic reached Philippine shores in March 2020 with 4,078 recoveries and 206 deaths.

TSB