THE 30-year-old woman who was found positive for the United Kingdom (UK) variant of Sars-CoV-2 in Hong Kong came from Cagayan Valley, the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday, January 6, 2021.
In a statement Wednesday night, the DOH said a report by the Hong Kong International Health Regulations National Focal Point showed that the woman left Cagayan Valley on December 17, 2020.
She underwent quarantine in the National Capital Region (NCR) on December 18 in compliance with her workplace protocol.
On December 19, she was swabbed for an RT-PCR test. The result was negative.
She left for Hong Kong on December 22 via Philippine Airlines PR300, occupying seat number 40A, and underwent quarantine.
A report by the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) in Hong Kong earlier stated that the woman, listed as Patient 9003, developed symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) on December 28.
She was tested again on January 2, 2021. This time, the result was positive and the UK variant was also detected.
“She remains in isolation and in stable condition,” the DOH said.
The agency said it has launched contact tracing efforts in the Philippines and was awaiting updates on similar efforts in Hong Kong.
The CHP earlier urged passengers within two seats surrounding Patient 9003 and the cabin crew who served her to get in touch with the office.
Contact tracing is also being done in Cagayan Valley and NCR.
“They have been instructed to ensure strict quarantine of identified close contacts and for samples collected from said contacts to be sent for confirmatory testing and, if samples test positive, subsequent whole genome sequencing,” the DOH said. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)