DOH announces detection of UK COVID-19 variant in PH

On Wednesday, the Department of Health (DOH) and Philippine Genome Center (PGC) announced that the new coronavirus variant, known as B117, initially discovered in the United Kingdom has been detected in the Philippines. 

A Filipino who arrived from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Jan. 7, yielded positive genome sequencing results. 

The patient with the UK variant is a male resident of Quezon City who departed for Dubai on Dec. 27 for business purposes 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 DOH said. 

The patient’s female partner, meanwhile, tested negative for COVID-19 and is currently under “strict” quarantine and monitoring. 

Both of the returning Filipinos had no exposure to a confirmed case prior to their departure to Dubai nor had any travel activities outside Quezon City,

the DOH said. 

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 has also secured the flight manifest of the flight in question and contact tracing of other passengers is now underway. The DOH advises those who were aboard Emirates Flight No. EK 332 to get in touch with their barangay health workers. 

Meanwhile, the country has barred arrivals from 30 countries due to the UK variant, which has been detected in at least 41 other countries. But, UAE is not among the countries included in the ban.