DAVAO CITY– Health Secretary Francisco Duque Jr. on Wednesday night, January 13, confirmed the detection of B.1.1.7. SARS-CoV-2 variant (UK variant) in the country after samples from a Filipino who arrived from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Jan. 7 yielded positive genome sequencing results.
During the talk to the nation, Wednesday night, Duque informed President Rodrigo Dutetre that the Department of Health (DOH) and the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) on Wednesday confirmed that the patient is a male resident of Quezon City who left for Dubai on Dec. 27, 2020, for a business trip and arrived in the Philippines last Jan. 7 via Emirates Flight No. EK 332.
The patient was swabbed and quarantined in a hotel upon arrival.
The positive test result was released the following day and the patient was referred to a quarantine facility in Quezon City while his samples were sent to PGC for whole-genome sequencing.
The patient was also accompanied by his female partner during his trip, but she tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 upon arrival.
The female is currently under strict quarantine and monitoring.
Both returning Filipinos had no exposure to a confirmed case prior to their departure to Dubai nor had any travel activities outside Quezon City.
Duque explained immediate contact tracing was done in close coordination with the QC government, and the initially identified contacts are asymptomatic and currently under strict home quarantine.
The DOH said it continues to work closely with the QC government to ensure timely and effective measures are in place to mitigate transmission.
DOH added that it has also secured the flight manifest of the flight in question and contact tracing of other passengers is now underway.
DOH advised those who were aboard Emirates Flight No. EK 332 to get in touch with their BHERTs.
