Duque: Traveler from UK positive for COVID-19; unknown if new strain

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Saturday announced that one of the 79 passengers that arrived in the Philippines from the United Kingdom have tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Duque said that out of the 59 test results reported on Friday, 53 tested negative while 23 are still pending cases.

“Pero ‘yung testing po nito, hindi po nangangahulugan na ito na ‘yung new variant dahil magasasagawa pa pong pagsusuri ang atin pong mga eksperto mula sa Philippine Genome Center,” he said in a live briefing.

According to the Health Secretary, current evidence suggests that the new COVID-19 strain has a "70 percent higher transmissibility."

"Ngunit, wala pa pong indikasyon na ang virus na ito ay nagdudulot ng mas malubhang karamdaman at maapektuhan nito ang patalab ng bagong bakuna kontra COVID," Duque said.

Meanwhile, the passengers were brought to the New Clark City in Tarlac to complete their 14-day quarantine.

Their swab samples were sent to the Philippine Genome Center and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine for further study, the Health Secretary said.

Duque added that the passengers arrived before the suspension of all flights from the UK took effect. The suspension started on December 24, 2020 at 12:01 a.m. and would end on December 31, 2020.

More than 40 countries suspended travel from Britain in a bid to contain a fast-spreading new strain of the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Duque said that 12 countries in the Western Pacific region reported positive cases from the United Kingdom such as Hongkong, China, Singapore, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, Solomon Islands, Vietnam, Australia, Taiwan, and Cambodia.

Among these, Australia, Hongkong, and Singapore reported cases based on the new strain of COVID-19

“Samantalang wala pang kaso mula sa new variant ang naitala sa Pilipinas. Ngunit nais ko pong tukuyin ang limitasyon ng datos na ito. Ito po ay mula sa mga official sites lamang kung saan ang datos ay patuloy na nagbabago o inaayos,” he said.

During the same meeting, Duterte said the government might be forced to place the Philippines under a lockdown again in case the new coronavirus strain enters and spreads in the country.

He also asked the Department of Health and the Department of Science and Technology to create a new task force that would focus on developments related to the new strain. 

Meanwhile, Duterte approved the extension for another two weeks of the travel ban for flights from UK in light of the new strain there. The ban is originally set to expire on December 31. — DVM/MDM, GMA News