89 UK variant contacts of Bontoc, La Trinidad cases positive for Covid-19:DOH
>> Wednesday, February 10, 2021
BONTOC, Mountain Province -- Eighty-three
people in this capital town and six in La Trinidad, Benguet, who are close
contacts of cases with the UK variant of coronavirus, have tested positive for
Covid-19, according to the Dept. of Health.
In a virtual press conference on Monday, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said eight samples from Bontoc and two from La Trinidad will undergo sequencing to detect the possible UK variant.
“To clarify, 410 contacts for Bontoc UK variant cluster had been identified with 83 testing positive for RT-PCR...Doon sa 83, additional eight na mga positive for RT-PCR are for sequencing,” she said.
“From the La Trinidad case, 37 are identified as contacts. Six were positive. And two of the six were sent to sequencing,” she added.
As of Jan. 31, a total of 447people have been identified as first to third generation contacts of the cases of UK variant in the region, the DOH said.
Fifty-six RT-PCR test results of some close contacts are still pending, it added.
Twelve cases of Covid-19 with the UK variant have been detected so far in Bontoc and also one in La Trinidad.
At least 56 results in RT-PCR tests of some close contacts are still pending, according to the DOH.
Earlier, the DOH confirmed a local transmission of new coronavirus variant B.1.1.7 in Bontoc. The B.1.1.7 is the new coronavirus variant initially discovered in the United Kingdom that is said to be more transmissible.
The virus causes Covid-19 which, as of latest count, has killed 10,749 people in the Philippines.
Total caseload as of Jan. 31 was 525,618, according to DOH data.
This, as Gov. Bonifacio Lacwasan, Jr. expressed appreciation to the Covid-19 National Task Force and the DOH joint mission and those who extended assistance to the province as Covid cases surged compounded by the detection of UK variant in 12 cases in Bontoc.
On Jan. 24, or two days after the detection of the U.K. variant (B.1.1.7) in 12 positive cases of Covid-19 in Bontoc as announced by the DOH and the Philippine Genome Center on Jan. 22, the DOH investigated the sudden discovery of the B.1.1.7 in the province through enhanced contact tracing.
The DOH contingent was led by DOH-CHD-Cordillera Assistant Regional Director Amelita M. Pangilinan. It was composed of 53 personnel from four DOH regional offices- 15 from DOH-CAR, 13 from Region 1, 10 from Region II and 13 from Region III, and two from the DOH Central Office- Field Epidemiology Training Program(FETP).
A local team was also formed and is comprised of personnel from the Provincial DOH Office-Nurse Deployment Program(14), the Department of the Interior and Local Government-Mt. Province(9), Provincial Health Office(2), Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office(2) and Bontoc local government unit(19).
The teams conducted contact tracing up to the third level of contacts of the 12 cases with UK variant.
On Jan. 25, a 32-man contingent for the Aggressive Community Testing (ACT) by the National Task Force Against Covid-19 arrived to conduct mass swabbing in Bontoc and in other municipalities where surge of cases were noted by the DOH biosurveillance arm.
The NFT, in partnership with the Bases Conversion Development Authority headed Secretary Vince Dizon, the National Action Plan Against Covid-19 Deputy Chief Implementer, and with the Bureau of Fire Protection, is conducting ACT in high prevalent areas. It is an intervention to cut the chain and contain the spread of virus by testing and isolating those positive for COVID.
For five days, the contingent conducted mass testing in the towns of Bontoc Sagada, Sabangan and Bauko collecting more than 3,000 swab samples.
"For so long, we were able to ward off the said novel coronavirus. We were the last to record a case in the whole of CAR. Thus, it came as a shock when suddenly we're having a continuous surge in cases and now, we have in our midst the so-called UK variant," Pangilinan said.
"Ultimately, the joint effort aims to curb the exponential growth rate of Covid-19 positive cases in Mountain Province and to trace the origin of the COVID-19 variant cases in Bontoc for management purposes," she said. -- -- By Joviland Rita with reports from KBK, GMA News, PLGU-Mt. Province and PIA
In a virtual press conference on Monday, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said eight samples from Bontoc and two from La Trinidad will undergo sequencing to detect the possible UK variant.
“To clarify, 410 contacts for Bontoc UK variant cluster had been identified with 83 testing positive for RT-PCR...Doon sa 83, additional eight na mga positive for RT-PCR are for sequencing,” she said.
“From the La Trinidad case, 37 are identified as contacts. Six were positive. And two of the six were sent to sequencing,” she added.
As of Jan. 31, a total of 447people have been identified as first to third generation contacts of the cases of UK variant in the region, the DOH said.
Fifty-six RT-PCR test results of some close contacts are still pending, it added.
Twelve cases of Covid-19 with the UK variant have been detected so far in Bontoc and also one in La Trinidad.
At least 56 results in RT-PCR tests of some close contacts are still pending, according to the DOH.
Earlier, the DOH confirmed a local transmission of new coronavirus variant B.1.1.7 in Bontoc. The B.1.1.7 is the new coronavirus variant initially discovered in the United Kingdom that is said to be more transmissible.
The virus causes Covid-19 which, as of latest count, has killed 10,749 people in the Philippines.
Total caseload as of Jan. 31 was 525,618, according to DOH data.
This, as Gov. Bonifacio Lacwasan, Jr. expressed appreciation to the Covid-19 National Task Force and the DOH joint mission and those who extended assistance to the province as Covid cases surged compounded by the detection of UK variant in 12 cases in Bontoc.
On Jan. 24, or two days after the detection of the U.K. variant (B.1.1.7) in 12 positive cases of Covid-19 in Bontoc as announced by the DOH and the Philippine Genome Center on Jan. 22, the DOH investigated the sudden discovery of the B.1.1.7 in the province through enhanced contact tracing.
The DOH contingent was led by DOH-CHD-Cordillera Assistant Regional Director Amelita M. Pangilinan. It was composed of 53 personnel from four DOH regional offices- 15 from DOH-CAR, 13 from Region 1, 10 from Region II and 13 from Region III, and two from the DOH Central Office- Field Epidemiology Training Program(FETP).
A local team was also formed and is comprised of personnel from the Provincial DOH Office-Nurse Deployment Program(14), the Department of the Interior and Local Government-Mt. Province(9), Provincial Health Office(2), Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office(2) and Bontoc local government unit(19).
The teams conducted contact tracing up to the third level of contacts of the 12 cases with UK variant.
On Jan. 25, a 32-man contingent for the Aggressive Community Testing (ACT) by the National Task Force Against Covid-19 arrived to conduct mass swabbing in Bontoc and in other municipalities where surge of cases were noted by the DOH biosurveillance arm.
The NFT, in partnership with the Bases Conversion Development Authority headed Secretary Vince Dizon, the National Action Plan Against Covid-19 Deputy Chief Implementer, and with the Bureau of Fire Protection, is conducting ACT in high prevalent areas. It is an intervention to cut the chain and contain the spread of virus by testing and isolating those positive for COVID.
For five days, the contingent conducted mass testing in the towns of Bontoc Sagada, Sabangan and Bauko collecting more than 3,000 swab samples.
"For so long, we were able to ward off the said novel coronavirus. We were the last to record a case in the whole of CAR. Thus, it came as a shock when suddenly we're having a continuous surge in cases and now, we have in our midst the so-called UK variant," Pangilinan said.
"Ultimately, the joint effort aims to curb the exponential growth rate of Covid-19 positive cases in Mountain Province and to trace the origin of the COVID-19 variant cases in Bontoc for management purposes," she said. -- -- By Joviland Rita with reports from KBK, GMA News, PLGU-Mt. Province and PIA
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