DOH still tracing 41 close contacts of 2 India variant cases

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) is looking for 41 passengers who were on the same flights as the two cases found to have the B.1.617.2 coronavirus variant first detected in India.

Meanwhile, the government has extended until the end of May the travel ban on arrivals from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

The government also expanded the ban to include Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where the two travelers found with the variant came from.

In an online media briefing on Friday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the first India variant case had six close contacts, and the second case had 35 close contacts on his flight.

“We are tracing them and trying to check all of their statuses,” she said.

However, Vergeire also pointed out that the passengers “all followed protocol” and there was unlikely to be any danger to the public.

Recovered

The DOH earlier disclosed the first case as a 37-year-old returning overseas Filipino (ROF) from Oman who arrived in the Philippines on April 10.

The second is a 58-year-old ROF from the UAE who arrived in the Philippines on April 29.

The two cases, seafarers from the Middle East, have since recovered and returned to their home provinces.

According to Vergeire, a close contact in an airplane refers to a passenger who is four seats in front, behind or alongside a person who tests positive for COVID-19.

The World Health Organization last week declared the B.1.617.2 as a “variant of global concern,” and warned that it could be more transmissible.

Travel ban

Vergiere also disclosed that the DOH had recommended the extension of the travel ban and the inclusion of Oman and the UAE.

In a statement, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said travelers from Oman and the UAE, or those with a history of travel to these two countries within the last 14 days, were barred from entering the Philippines beginning 12:01 a.m. of May 15 until 11:59 p.m. of May 31.

However, passengers already in transit from those countries and those who arrived in the Philippines before May 15 would be allowed to undergo quarantine and testing in a government facility, Roque said.

He said the Department of Foreign Affairs had also recommended the inclusion of Oman and the UAE in the travel ban.

Furthermore, the Department of Transportation was tasked to ensure that airlines do not allow the boarding of passengers coming from the countries covered by the travel ban, unless they are part of the government’s repatriation efforts, Roque said.

Virus case update

The DOH on Friday said it recorded 6,784 new cases of COVID-19 infections, the highest number of new cases in four days.

The new cases pushed the country’s total case count to 1,131,467.

In its daily case bulletin, the DOH said there were currently 58,986 active cases, or currently sick patients. Of this number, 93.5 percent are mild cases, 2.3 percent are asymptomatic, 1.3 percent are in critical condition, 1.8 percent have severe symptoms and 113 percent are moderate cases.

Meanwhile, 2,972 other patients have recovered from the respiratory disease, which pushed the total number of survivors to 1,053,523.

The number of recoveries is the lowest since April 17, when the DOH reported 799 recoveries.

The DOH said another 137 individuals have died, which brought the total number of fatalities to 18,958.

The department said it removed 41 duplicates from the total case count. Meanwhile, 71 cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths following final validation.