DOH: 22 of 25 UK variant cases recover from COVID-19

Twenty-two of the 25 cases infected with the new B.1.1.7 variant of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the country have already recovered, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire added one has died while two cases remain active.

The DOH previously identified the fatality as an 84-year-old male from La Trinidad, Benguet who had no known history of travel or contact with a COVID-19 case.

“No’ng kausap namin ‘yung regional office namin, they said that this person never went out. Seldom. Pero hindi talaga, nando’n lang daw sa loob ng bahay, walang ibang contact, so tinitingnan natin kung ano ‘yung source of infection at ano ‘yung ibang circumstances,” Vergeire said at a briefing.

The fatality’s 15-year-old female relative was also found to have the new variant.

The B.1.1.7, initially discovered in the United Kingdom, was also detected in Bontoc, Mountain Province residents and in several returning overseas Filipinos, among others.

Vergeire said the Philippine Genome Center is expected to sequence 720 samples this week to detect other cases of the UK variant.

The DOH said last week that genome sequencing efforts were delayed by a lack of reagents. The issue has since been resolved with the delivery of new supplies.

The Philippines has logged 537,310 infections with 499,798 recoveries and 11,179 deaths as of Sunday afternoon.—AOL, GMA News