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368 close contacts of patient positive for UK variant identified
MANILA – A total of 368 individuals are closely being monitored by the Department of Health (DOH) as it tries to trace and contain the spread of the new coronavirus variant in Bontoc, Mountain Province and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
In a Zoom presser Friday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said out of the 368 individuals who were identified in CAR as close contacts of the patient found positive for the new variant, 233 have been tested using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, with 57 individuals tested positive, 135 turned negative, while 41 results are still pending.
“Of these 57 positive close contacts, kasama na po diyan ‘yung 12 na may new variant at dalawa na may (included are the 12 individuals infected with the new variant and two who have tested) negative,” Vergeire said.
This came after three days of “intensive contact tracing” where over 2,000 individuals were tested in Bontoc and Sagada.
On Monday, the DOH confirmed local transmission of the new variant in Bontoc after it detected 12 cases in the area.
To date, the DOH is still unsure how the disease spread in Bontoc, since the traveler from the United Kingdom, where the new variant was first detected, who tested positive for Covid-19 showed no signs of being infected with the variant.
Meanwhile, following reports of “unscrupulous individuals” who issue fake Covid-19 test results, Vergeire advised the public to get tested only in licensed Covid-19 testing laboratories of the government.
“Kung pumunta po tayo sa mga laboratoryo na nakita natin na wala naman license to operate, eh ‘wag na po kayo magpapa-test diyan. Dahil hindi po official ‘yang result na ‘yan (If we go to a laboratory with no license to operate, let’s not get tested there. The result won’t be official),” she said.
Those confirmed to have issued fake or non-official Covid-19 test results, she said, are facing violations of Republic Act 11332 or the “Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act” and will be given corresponding sanctions.
The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine earlier said it discovered a scam where people impersonating its employees are issuing fake Covid-19 test results.
It noted that the scam was discovered after it received requests for verification from private companies and the government and found 27 falsified test results.