Davao de Oro guv: UK variant may be from one source

DAVAO de Oro Governor Jayvee Tyron Uy said it is possible that the two patients from the province who had contracted the B.1.1.7 variant of the Sars-Cov-2 acquired it from the same and one source.

When asked whether the two patients were in the same place at the same time when they contracted the coronavirus, Uy said in a radio interview on February 17, 2021 that they may have not gone to a certain place at the same time together, but it could be that they were exposed from one source.

"Mao pa na ang dili nato maklaro sir, pero (That is still under verification, but) it could be a possibility nga adunay common relationship ang mga panghitabo or findings kanila, so there is a possibility... Dili ingon sa nag-uban sila but maybe na-expose sila sa the same person (that the events or the findings have common relationship on the two, they may not be together in the same place at the same time but it could be that they were exposed to the same person)," Uy said on Davao City Disaster Radio.

On February 12, the Department of Health (DOH) announced that three Covid-19 cases from Davao Region tested positive for the B.1.1.7. variant after confirmatory tests were conducted by the Philippine Genome Center.

Davao de Oro confirmed that two of the three cases are from the province -- a 33-year-old male patient from Compostela and a 54-year-old female patient from New Bataan. The other patient, a 10-year-old boy, is from Davao City.

According to the clarificatory statement of the Provincial Government of Davao de Oro, which was posted on its official Facebook page, the 33-year-old male patient from Compostela tested positive for the Sars-CoV-2 last January 26. He was brought to the Municipal Isolation Unit in Compostela and remains in quarantine as of February 16 and is already on his 27th day of isolation in the municipality's isolation facility.

The 54-year-old female patient from New Bataan, on the other hand, tested positive for Sars-CoV-2 on January 26. She was brought to the isolation room in Davao de Oro Provincial Hospital-Montevista (DDOPH-Montevista) and on February 2, she was swabbed again and yielded a negative result. She was discharged on February 6 but remains in isolation and has no physical contact with other people as of February 16.

As of Wednesday, February 17, both patients are asymptomatic and are well taken care of.

The two patients have no travel history to places where there were confirmed cases of B.1.1.7 variant of Sars-CoV-2. The new variant has also been known as the UK variant.

Since being tested positive, the patients' close contacts have already been swabbed and those who tested positive are now in isolation. Those who are symptomatic are being treated and those who tested negative were quarantined for 14 days.

The Provincial Government re-swabbed all the close contacts (F1) of the patients. They also put in isolation and swabbed all the F2 or those who had close contact with the F1 and the F3 or those who were in close contact with the F2 to make sure that the virus won't spread any further.

Meanwhile, as of February 16, around 323 individuals have already been swabbed after two residents of the province tested positive for the B.1.1.7 variant of Covid-19.

The Provincial Government owed this to the prompt response of the Emergency Operations Center of both the municipalities of New Bataan and Compostela and PLGU-Davao de Oro, stating that because of the transmissibility of the new variant of Covid-19, all the contacts of the two patients from F1 to F3 will be traced and swabbed.

It reiterated to the public that safety starts from their adherence to health protocols.

As of February 17, Davao de Oro recorded a total of 1,055 Covid-19 cases, wherein 242 of these are active cases; 786 have recovered and 27 fatalities.