The Department of Health intensified bio surveillance detected 13 Coronavirus UK variant in Bontoc, Mt. Province and in La Trinidad, Benguet.
Bontoc registered the highest number of confirmed UK COVID variant with 12 cases while the neighbor of Baguio City the municipality of La Trinidad recorded 1 confirmed case.
In a press statement, the DOH said that of the 12 cases in Bontoc, seven are male and five are female. Three are aged below 18 years old and another three are above 60
The La Trinidad patient was described as a “local case” having had no travel history from outside the country. The patient is currently admitted in a Benguet Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facility.
Bontoc Mayor Franklin C. Odsey confirmed that 12 out of 35 specimens from COVID-19 positive cases in this capital town have been to be of the UK variant.
The Bontoc LGU urges its constituents to intensify adherence to basic health protocols and lockdown is still in effect in the municipality.
“Rest assured that the LGU is doing its best to help deter further spread of the new COVID variant.” Mayor Odsey said.
Meanwhile, Mt. Province Governor Bonifacio Lacwasan calls on everyone in the province to adhere with the quarantine protocols being imposed by the respective municipalities and to adhere with the minimum health standards to break the chain of infection.
Contact Tracing Czar Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the DOH is now organizing a team of more than 60 trained contact tracers to be fielded to the region to undertake tracing operations as per information from DOH Assistant Secretary Dr. Maria Francia Laxamana and DOH Epidemiology Bureau Medical Specialist IV Dr. Alethea de Guzman.
The team members who will come from Regions 1, 2 and 3 and the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (RIATF MEID) will be under the mayor’s supervision.
The country now has a total of 17 cases of the UK variant which is said to be a more contagious type.
The first case is a resident of Quezon City who had travel history in United Arab Emirates as the first case while the others were two returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) from Lebanon and one from Calamba City in Laguna who is also considered a local case. Joe M/Aileen P. Refuerzo/PIO Baguio/Photo Bontoc Gen.