Two returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) were found positive for B.1.617.2 variant, a lineage of B.1.617 which was first detected in India in October last year, the Department of Health (DOH) reported on Tuesday.
In the 46 samples sequenced last May 8, 2021, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that B.1.617.2 was detected in the two ROFs who came from Oman and the other from the United Arab Emirates.
“Sila ay walang (They don’t have) travel history to India or did not come from India, nor passed through India. They were part of the sequencing because they were part of the batch that we sequenced for the returning overseas Filipino workers,” Vergeire said in a special online news briefing.
Vergeire, who also chairs the Technical Working Group (TWG) on Covid-19 Variants, was joined by members of Dr. Anna Ong-Lim of the DOH Technical Advisory Group (TAG); Dr. Marissa Alejandria of the DOH TAG; Dr. Edsel Maurice Salvana of the DOH TAG; Dr. Celia Carlos of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine; Dr. Eva Maria Cutiongco-dela Paz of the University of the Philippines National Institutes of Health; Dr. Cynthia Saloma of the University of the Philippines–Philippine Genome Center; and Dr. John Wong of health research institution Epimetrics Inc. during the briefing.
Dr. Alethea De Guzman, Epidemiology Bureau Director of the DOH, said that the first case is a 37 -year-old male, a sea-based OFW, who is currently staying in Region 12.
● Flight Details:
Country of Origin: Oman
Date of arrival in the Philippines: April 10, 2021
Specimen date: April 15, 2021
● Quarantine Details:
Isolated in a hotel in National Capital Region
Date Recovered: April 26, 2021
Underwent additional home quarantine in Region 12 until May 10
Repeat RT-PCR done on May 3 tested negative
Currently asymptomatic
The second case is also a sea-based OFW, 58, male, currently staying in Region 5.
● Flight Details:
Country of origin: United Arab Emirates
Date arrived in the Philippines: April 19, 2021
Specimen date: April 24, 2021
● Quarantine Details:
Isolated in a Temporary Treatment Monitoring Facility in Clark
Date recovered: May 6, 2021
Currently asymptomatic
De Guzman said that since these ROFs were immediately quarantined upon arrival, they have not detected close contacts, but contact tracing is already being conducted.
Close monitoring
Vergeire stressed that with biosurveillance, variants of interest and concern among incoming international travelers were detected that further support the need for strong border control and quarantine/isolation completion by travelers.
“We also continue to monitor these variants’ presence and spread locally and responded through enhanced implementation of our Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Treatment-Recovery strategies,” she added.
For his part, Salvana said that there is still no evidence yet to prove that variants from India are “more or less infectious than the other variants.”
“There is some evidence that suggests na mas infectious sila pero yung (that they are more infectious but the) duration of infectiousness, there is no evidence that it lasts longer,” he said.
Meanwhile, Saloma asked the public not to celebrate early.
“If the cases in India is any indication, it is a lesson for everybody not to celebrate too early on successes,” she said noting that the cases detected have no travel history from India.
“That tells you that the spread has been going on in some countries where our overseas Filipinos are coming from,” she stressed.