THE Department of Health (DOH) has recorded the first case of B.1.617.1, also known as Kappa variant of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the country, DOH undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said on Monday, November 8, 2021.

Vergeire said the case was a 32-year-old male from Floridablanca in Pampanga who tested positive for the virus in June this year.

She said the patient exhibited only mild symptoms and was already marked as recovered.

It was a local case, said Vergeire.

“Further investigation is being done by our regional epidemiology and surveillance unit in order to gather more information on this case and there is strict monitoring of this case and the community,” she said.

She added that during the time when the sample from the patient was collected, B.1.617.1 was still a variant of interest.

As of September 2021, it was tagged as a variant under deescalated category by the World Health Organization.

Kappa emerged from the same lineage as the Delta variant and was first detected in India in October 2020.

So far, the Philippines has recorded a total of 5,982 cases of the feared Delta variant, which caused the upsurge of Covid-19 cases in the country. (SunStar Philippines)