A DAVAO City health official reported that another resident in the city tested positive for the B117 variant (UK variant) of the Sars-CoV-2, but the patient was quarantined in Metro Manila.
City Health Office (CHO) Acting Head Dr. Ashley Lopez said in a radio interview on Wednesday, March 10, that the patient is a female returning overseas Filipino worker (ROFW) from Dubai.
Lopez said that based on the information provided by the ROFW, her address is Talomo Crossing.
"Pag-abot niya'g Manila, nag-positive, and ilang gi-genome sequencing (When she arrived in Manila, she tested positive and her specimen was tested via genome sequencing), and found out to be a UK variant also. Pero wala to nakauli og Davao [City] kay sa Manila pa lang, na-quarantine na siya (But the patient was not able to return to Davao City because when she arrived in Manila, she was immediately quarantined)," the health official said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
After the 14-day quarantine, the ROFW tested negative and was immediately cleared, he said.
Lopez said the city has currently no active case of the new variant. He also allayed fears of a possible transmission in her case.
"Wala tay any (We do not have any) possible transmission because wala man to nakatuntong og (she was not able to reach) Davao when she was still positive," he said.
In February, a 10-year-old boy, who was asymptomatic and had no history of travel, became the city's first case of B117, but he has since recovered.
Lopez said they also did not notice any case surge in the area where the young boy resides.
The new variants, according to health experts, are highly infectious and can transmit faster than the ancestral variant.
Meanwhile, Lopez noted that the city continues to experience a downtrend of Covid-19 cases.
Based on the Department of Health-Davao Region (DOH-Davao) data, as of March 9, Davao City has a total of 13,253 total cases, 585 of these are active cases, 12,025 have recovered, and 643 died.
He said the city was able to manage its Covid-19 case after experiencing a case surge from mid-October until January.
Lopez, however, said the city is at risk for another possible surge of Covid-19 cases brought about by the discovery and transmission of the new variant in some places in the country, including Metro Manila, and Cebu City.
To avoid possible surge, the official reminded the public not to be complacent in observing the minimum health protocols as this can curb the spread of the virus.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, in a recent radio interview, warned of a possible "second wave" of Covid-19 cases in the city if the public will be complacent in abiding health protocols, and the city will be lowering down some of its regulations.
