The patient who tested positive for the UK COVID-19 variant infected 57 of its close contacts, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Friday.
“369 iyong identified na unique close close contacts ng UK traveler case, 233 iyong tested ng RT-PCR [for COVID-19], 57 ang positive for COVID-19, including iyong 12 na may UK variant,” she said at a virtual press briefing.
Five barangays in Bontoc, Mountain Province are currently under lockdown due to the threat of the UK COVID-19 variant in the municipality, Mayor Franklin Odsey said on Monday.
The mayor said around 6,000 residents were affected by the lockdown to prevent the spread of the new COVID-19 strain.
“There are four barangays dito sa sentro ng munisipyo [ang nasa ilalim ng lockdown] at I declared ang isang barangay outside. That’s the Barangay Tocucan. So all in all lima,” Odsey said.
These barangays are Tocucan, Poblacion, Bontoc Ili, Caluttit, and Samoki.
UK COVID-19 variant patient infects 57 people in Bontoc
Barangay Samoki earlier recorded 11 cases of the UK variant. All of them are said to be connected to the couple who returned from the United Kingdom on December 11.
They also both tested negative for the PCR test so they returned to Bontoc and visited Sagada.
On December 25, they had a party, and the next day, they performed a ritual to give thanks to the relatives and guests from Sagada.
The man consulted a doctor on December 27 due to abdominal pain and underwent a swab test and on December 29, tested positive for the RT-PCR test.
But when the male sample was sequenced, he was negative in the UK variant. As a result, the DOH has yet to say who else got the UK variant, but they do see the possibility that the man got the infection in the Philippines.