DOH checking status of India variant case's 13 co-travelers

The Department of Health on Wednesday said it was verifying the COVID-19 test results of 13 co-passengers of a seafarer who tested positive for the B.1.617 coronavirus variant first detected in India.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the 13 travelers were on the same flight with the 37-year-old male who arrived in the Philippines from Oman on April 10.

Vergeire added that the COVID-19 case was one of two returning overseas Filipinos found to have the B.1.617 variant. 

“‘Yun po ang tinitingnan natin sa ngayon. Meron po tayong 13 pasahero na tinitingnan at bine-verify po natin kung ano ‘yung mga naging resulta ng kanilang mga RT-PCR when they arrived here,” she told CNN Philippines.

[We are monitoring the results of the RT-PCR test of the 13 co-passengers.] 

In a separate interview with Super Radyo dzBB, Vergeire said the 37-year-old seafarer originally came from Belgium and took a flight to Oman to get to the Philippines.

As for the other B.1.617 variant case, a 58-year-old male from the United Arab Emirates, the health official said the DOH is still working to get the flight manifest.

5 travelers from India

Meanwhile, Vergeire said two out of the five travelers from India who tested positive for COVID-19 last week have already recovered. The remaining three are still in isolation.

Vergeire added that two samples from the same group have been subjected to genome sequencing but neither tested positive for a variant of concern.

“We are closely monitoring these individuals and waiting if we can re-swab them and get our genome sequencing [underway],” she said.

All the travelers who came from India, or those who tested positive for the B.1.617 variant entered the country prior to the implementation of a travel ban on April 29. 

Earlier, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said he would recommend stricter border restrictions for travelers from the Middle East. —LBG, GMA News