DOH: Close contacts of Filipino travelers from China negative for COVID-19

None of the close contacts of the eight unvaccinated Filipinos who arrived in the Philippines from China over the holidays had tested positive for COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH) said Tuesday.

DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said earlier that only one close contact showed symptoms.

“As to those close contacts of these eight individuals, wala nang nag-develop further pa ng symptoms. Wala na rin tayong nakuhang positibo na individual,” she said.

(As for the close contacts of these eight individuals, none developed further symptoms. We also did not get any more COVID-19-positive individuals.)

The eight Filipino travelers arrived in the Philippines from China from December 27, 2022, to January 2, 2023. They were given antigen tests when they arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and tested positive for COVID-19. They were then isolated. 

The DOH had identified some 89 close contacts from these travelers from four different flights - 46 were foreigners and 43 were Filipinos.

“‘Yung walo na ating na-identify as positive coming from China have finished their isolation periods already. Marami naman sa kanila, walang sintomas. ‘Yung iba, may mild symptoms lang,” she said.

(The eight travelers who came from China who tested positive have completed their isolation periods. Many of them had no symptoms. The others had only mild symptoms.)

“Based on our current protocols, kapag after seven days, tapos na ang sintomas mo o ‘di kaya hindi ka talaga nilabasan ng sintomas, you can be discharged from isolation and you will just be monitored,” she added.

(Based on our current protocols, if after seven days, your symptoms are gone or you are not symptomatic, you can be discharged from isolation, and you will just be monitored.)

Reports said that almost 60,000 people with COVID-19 in China had died in hospitals between December 8, 2022, and January 12, 2023. China abandoned its zero-COVID policy last month.

Due to this, the World Health Organization on Saturday called on China to provide more data on its COVID-19 situation.

Vergeire said that after China suddenly lifted COVID restrictions, which she said the Philippines did gradually, they noticed an increase in cases in the East Asian country.

“What we have observed was the sudden lifting of restrictions in their area. So if you would try to note, and if we compare, when we lifted our restrictions, we did it gradually. Tinignan natin kung ano ang mga circumstances sa ating lugar, tinignan natin ‘yung safeguards natin kung nakahanda na ba tayo bago tayo mag-lift ng restrictions [We looked at the circumstances in our country. We looked at our safeguards to see if we were ready before we lifted the restrictions],” she said. 

The Health official said that the COVID-19 situation in the Philippines remains “manageable,” with hospitals “better prepared than the previous years.”

She also thanked the public for complying with the minimum public health standards. 

The Philippines recorded 2,934 new COVID-19 cases from January 9 to January 15, according to the DOH.

On January 16, the DOH reported 277 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total nationwide caseload to 4,070,591.

This marked the 11th week of fewer than 10,000 new cases per week and the third week of fewer than 5,000 new cases. This is also the fourth straight week where the country logged less than 1,000 daily new cases. — DVM/VBL, GMA Integrated News