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Facade of the DOH main office in Manila. File photo of INQUIRER.net / Consuelo Marquez
MANILA, Philippines – Forty of the 44 patients with confirmed cases of the most transmissible British variant of Covid-19 have already recovered from the disease, the Department of Health (DOH) said Tuesday.
Dr. Alethea de Guzman, a medical specialist with the DOH Office of Epidemiology, said in an online media forum that only three of the 44 cases remain active.
She said the remaining three active cases are a Filipino overseas (ROF) returning from the United Arab Emirates, a local case from Sabangan, Mountain province, and another local case from Bukidnon province.
“They remain in isolation while they complete their number of days in isolation and while we complete the investigation and contact tracing,” de Guzmán said.
(They remain in isolation while they complete the quarantine period and while we carry out investigation and contact tracing.)
DOH previously confirmed that one of the patients, an 84-year-old man from La Trinidad, Benguet province, died on January 24.
Of the 44 total cases of the variant, 28 are local infections and 15 are ROF. De Guzman said DOH is still verifying whether the other case is a local case or a returning Filipino.
Meanwhile, of the 28 local cases, 14 are linked to the Bontoc cluster and two belong to the La Trinidad cluster, Benguet. The linkage of the other cases is still being verified.
De Guzman further said that the DOH has noted minimal transmission of the UK variant to other people as long as cases are detected immediately and appropriate response efforts are initiated.
He said that of the UK’s new variant cases, only three appear to be linked to previously reported confirmed cases in the country. She said this shows that the government’s strategy to respond to the variant cases detected in the UK is working.
“If we only start, if we are aggressive in our contact tracing, if we make sure that isolation and quarantine protocols are implemented, we cut that chain of transmission,” added de Guzmán.
DOH previously noted that the variant, called B.1.1.7, which was first reported in the UK, demonstrated increased transmissibility, but there was no evidence that it increased infectivity, pathogenicity or virulence. “
JPV
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