The Cordillera Autonomous Region has an additional 38 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases after 34 new cases were tallied Monday in Bontoc, Mountain Province—the country's new flashpoint for the dreaded UK variant of the virus—and four more were found in nearby La Trinidad, Benguet.
The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday said 34 contacts of Bontoc’s United Kingdom coronavirus variant cases tested positive for COVID-19 — but negative for the new, more infectious variant.
“For this contact tracing, there were 34 additional COVID-positive cases,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online briefing. “But they were not positive for the UK variant.”
The 34 are among the 116 contacts of the 12 UK variant cases in Bontoc, who were tested for COVID-19. Twenty-eight other contacts have not been tested yet.
All 144 in Bontoc are first and second-generation contacts of the 12 UK variant cases.
For the lone UK variant case in La Trinidad, Benguet, 97 close contacts (first and second generation) have been identified.
“Four tested positive among the close contacts,” Vergeire said, identifying them as the mother, father, sibling and grandmother of the UK variant case.
Vergeire did not say if these four contacts already underwent genome sequencing to check for the new variant. She said they are also still following up more close contacts.
Meanwhile, Bontoc Mayor Franklin Odsey, who tested positive for COVID-19, on Monday said five barangays in the municipality are currently under lockdown and strict quarantine protocol due to the threat of the new coronavirus variant.
Speaking to radio dzBB, Odsey said about 6,000 residents are affected in barangays are Tocucan, Bontoc III, Caluttit, Poblacion, and Samoki.
Regionwide, the Cordillera has 11,226 total cases as of Monday, with 56 new cases recorded in Mountain Province and 47 in Benguet.
The first among the existing UK variant cases in Bontoc involves an overseas Filipino worker who came home from the UK on Dec. 13 and tested negative upon arrival.
Vergeire said the person went home to Bontoc on Dec. 14 and stayed in a household with relatives. The person interacted with some people on Dec. 24 for Christmas, and on Dec. 26 for a traditional ritual. On Dec. 29, the person showed symptoms.
“What we have seen here in this contact tracing efforts, we have identified already three clusters of infection,” Vergeire said.
However, Vergeire cautioned that the details are “not definite.”
“We are just giving you the details. We are still studying it,” she said.
Vergeire said they are still looking at other possible sources of the COVID clusters in the area.
The two other returning overseas Filipinos with the UK variant who were reported on Friday were traced to Iloilo and Binangonan, Rizal.
The case in Iloilo was already located, Vergeire said, but the one in Binangonan is still going through verification.
The first of the 17 UK variant cases identified in the country involves a Quezon City resident who arrived from Dubai early this month.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Monday said the National Bureau of Investigation has located two close contacts of the first Philippine case of the UK variant of the coronavirus 2019.
Guevarra said the NBI has turned over the finding to the Department of Health, which earlier sought its help for contact tracing, one of the close contacts and discovered the location of another.
Reports showed that the first case of the UK variant in the country was a male Quezon City resident who returned from the United Arab Emirates on Jan. 7. He had gone on a business trip with his girlfriend last month.
The patient already tested negative in his latest swab test.
His mother and his girlfriend tested positive for COVID-19 but not the UK variant.
The DOH said it has detected 16 more cases of the new variant. Three have recovered and 13 were active cases as of Jan. 22.
Twelve of the 16 additional cases are from Bontoc, the capital of Mountain Province. Of these 12 cases, seven are male and five are female. Three are aged below 18 years old and another three are above 60.
Meanwhile, two other patients with the B.1.1.7 variant are returning overseas Filipinos who arrived on Dec. 29, 2020 from Lebanon, a country included in the travel restrictions due to the detection of the B.1.1.7 variant in said country.
The cases were aboard Philippine Airlines flight PR 8661.
The first case is a 64-year-old female whose indicated local address is Jaro, Iloilo City. The patient was isolated in San Juan, Metro Manila, and discharged on Jan. 9.
The other is a 47-year-old Filipina whose reported local address is Binangonan, Rizal, and was quarantined in New Clark City and discharged from isolation on Jan. 13.
The last two B.1.1.7 variant cases are local cases detected in La Trinidad, Benguet, and in Calamba City, Laguna; both have no known contact to any confirmed case or travel history from outside the country.
One is currently admitted in a Benguet Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facility, while the 23-year-old male in Laguna has been discharged after receiving a negative result on Jan. 16.
Of the additional 16 cases with B.1.1.7 variant detected, three have already recovered, 13 are active cases”•three of which are asymptomatic and 10 are exhibiting mild symptoms.