DOH: 78% of co-passengers of Pinoy infected with UK variant of coronavirus now under isolation

At least 78% or 125 co-passengers of the 29-year-old male Filipino who tested positive for the more transmissible UK variant of the coronavirus are already in isolation and are waiting for COVID-19 test results,  Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Friday.

Vergeire made the announcement two days after the detection of the UK variant of the coronavirus in the Philippines.

“We already contacted 146 of them [close contacts] at 125 po roon ang nagkaroon na tayo ng positive action. Nasa quarantine facilities na po sila, iyong iba naka-home quarantine kasi nakapag-comply naman po sa requirements [of being isolated in a room equipped with a restroom],” Vergeire said in an online forum.

“Lahat po sila (125) ay na-swab using RT-PCR test at kinunan ng specimen for genome sequencing [needed to detect the new UK variant],” Vergeire added.

Vergeire also said the Filipino who was infected with the UK variant of coronavirus, an infection detected on him after a return trip to the Philippines from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with his girlfriend on a business trip, were on board a flight with 159 other passengers.

“Iyong iba po, they are rejecting the calls, patay ang telepoono o mali ang ibinigay na telepono,” she said.

Vergeire then reminded these close contacts to cooperate with authorities since doing otherwise will be punishable by law.

“Meron po tayong Republic Act 1132 na Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act,” she said.

She then cited the prohibited acts under the law include: non-cooperation of persons and entities that should report and/or respond to notifiable diseases or health events of public concern and non-cooperation of the person or entities identified as having the notifiable disease, or affected by the health event of public concern.

The same law provides that any person or entity found to have committed these prohibited acts will be penalized with a fine  ranging from P20,000 to P50,000 or imprisonment of not less than one month but not more than six months, or both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the proper court. — RSJ, GMA News