Filipino seafarer with new virus variant dies

(UPDATED) One of the Filipino crew members of a foreign vessel with travel history to India has succumbed to coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

The mortality, a 63-year-old male, was one of the four crew members of MV Athens Bridge who were hospitalized due to severe Covid-19 and were later found to have contracted the highly transmissible B.1.617.2 variant of Sars-CoV-2.

He died on Friday, May 21, 2021, due to complications from Covid-19, according to Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire. The three other crew members are recovering.

The patient had listed his current address as Parañaque City, although he hailed from Tarlac. Vergeire said he suffered from hypertension, a comorbidity of Covid-19.

He was among the 12 confirmed cases of the B.1.617.2 variant in the Philippines.

The first case, a 37-year-old male, arrived from Oman on April 10. He has completed the mandatory quarantine, has been tagged as recovered, and has gone home to South Cotabato.

He had nine close contacts, all of whom tested negative for Sars-CoV-2, Vergeire said.

As of May 5, they have all been considered recovered although they are still under monitoring by their local government units (LGUs), she added.

Case 2, a 58-year-old male, arrived from the United Arab Emirates on April 19. He has also undergone quarantine, has been tagged as recovered, and has gone home to Camarines Sur.

He had 34 close contacts, three of whom tested positive for the virus. The swab specimens from these three patients were sequenced and found to contain no variant of concern.

The variants of concern as the B.1.1.7, which was first reported in the United Kingdom; B.1.351, which emerged in South Africa; P.1, which was detected in Brazil; and the B.1.617, which is believed to be causing the exponential increase in Covid-19 cases in India.

The B.1.617 has three sub-lineages, of which the B.1.617.2 has been found to be more transmissible. This is the same sub-lineage detected in the cases in the Philippines.

All 34 close contacts of Case 2 have also been tagged as recovered. They are also being monitored by their LGUs.

Eight other cases are also crew members of MV Athens. Three are recovering from Covid-19 in a hospital while five have been tagged as recovered, Vergeire said.

“The rest of the crew members were already tagged as recovered. They have been cleared to return to their LGUs, where they will continue to undergo quarantine and monitoring,” Vergeire said during the media forum Monday.

The ship, which departed India on April 22, sought refuge in the Philippines on May 6 after two of its Filipino crew became critically ill with Covid-19.

The vessel’s 21 Filipino crew members underwent an RT-PCR test when they reached Vietnam on May 1. Twelve were found positive for the virus.

Case 12, a seafarer who traveled from Belgium via UAE, hails from Cavite. He had been under quarantine when he tested positive.

He has been transferred to an isolation facility, where he is still under monitoring, Vergeire said.

No other passenger on the same flight as Case 12 tested positive for the virus, Vergeire added. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines).