MANILA – Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Monday said government trackers have found two close contacts of the first case of the United Kingdom variant of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the Philippines.
“The DOJ (Department of Justice), through the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation), has located and turned over to the DOH (Department of Health) one close contract, of the first arriving passenger who tested positive for the UK variant of Covid 19,” Guevarra told reporters.
“The two close contacts were co-passengers in the flight from Dubai who had not been traced by the DOH. The NBI found one in Cavite,” Guevarra said.
The DOH earlier reported that eight co-passengers aboard Emirates Dubai-Manila Flight EK332 tested positive for Covid-19 upon arrival here in the country and that five close contacts of the first confirmed UK variant case in the country also tested positive for the disease.
Upon the release of positive RT-PCR results, the passengers were immediately transferred to isolation facilities and their samples were secured from confirming laboratories for whole genome sequencing to determine the presence of the UK variant.
However, preliminary analysis showed that samples from all positive cases yielded a cycle threshold value greater than 30, which indicates low viral load and entails the need for re-swabbing to secure samples for sequencing.
The DOH said the five close contacts of the patient who recently tested positive are his partner, who was aboard flight EK332 but tested negative upon arrival; two other co-passengers who also initially tested negative; another household member; and a healthcare worker. (PNA)
