DOH: 2 Bontoc barangays on lockdown due to UK COVID-19 variant

Two barangays in Bontoc, Mountain Province are under lockdown after a dozen cases of the UK variant of coronavirus have been detected in the said town, a local health official said Saturday.

At a virtual briefing, Department of Health (DOH) Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) regional director Dr. Ruby Constantino said that 12 of the 16 new UK variant cases detected are in two barangays in Bontoc.

The DOH has earlier said that out 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.

“Currently, the LGU (local government unit) of Bontoc municipality implemented the lockdown of the involved barangays, but as per our meeting last night. If ever our health care utilization rate will continue to increase, they might recommend to the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) the changing of our quarantine status from MGCQ (modified general community quarantine) to GCQ," Constantino said.

The DOH, late Friday, disclosed that there are now 17 seventeen cases of COVID-19 who have the UK variant in the Philippines after the first who arrived from the United Arab Emirates earlier in January.

Of the additional 16 cases, three have recovered while 13 are still active. Of the 13 active cases, three are asymptomatic while the remaining 10 have mild symptoms.

The B117 variant of the novel coronavirus, first detected in the United Kingdom, has been found to be more infectious but does not make the disease more severe.

Twelve of the 16 additional cases are from Bontoc in the Mountain Province, two are OFWs returning from Lebanon, two are from La Trinidad in Benguet and Calamba in Laguna.

Bontoc has also seen a 203% surge in COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks, according to DOH Epidemiology Bureau specialist Dr. Alethea de Guzman.

The rise of COVID-19 cases in the municipality is alarming, Constantino said as the health care utilization rate (HCUR) is nearing critical level.

"That is a very big challenge that we have to lower the HCUR, yesterday almost danger zone na because the facilities are fully occupied, we really have to move our asymptomatic patients," she said.

In its report on Saturday, the OCTA Research noted that Mountain Province, Benguet and Kalinga continue to have an increase in daily new COVID-19 cases, while also having high daily attack rates greater than 10 per 100,000 and positivity rates greater than 10%.

The high positivity rate warrants an increase in testing capacity in these areas," the group recommended. -MDM, GMA News