The number of returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) in Negros Occidental to be tested for the new United Kingdom COVID-19 variant have increased to four, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said today, January 24.
Reports from the United Kingdom indicate that the new variant may not only spread COVID-19 faster, there is a possibility that it has a higher death rate.
“There is some evidence that the new variant … may be associated with a higher degree of mortality” but the data is not conclusive, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was quoted by the international media as saying.
Diaz said the samples of a couple from Pontevedra who returned from London, a Talisay City teacher from US Virgin Islands, and a Bago City resident from Egypt will be sent to the Philippine Genome Center in Quezon City today.
The delay in the sending of the samples is because Philippine Airlines is the only airline that agreed to transport them, he said.
The four, who all tested positive for COVID-19, came from countries that are considered banned because of the new UK variant, he said.
The couple from London is quarantined at a Pontevedra facility, while the Bago and Talisay residents are at the EB Magalona healing center.
Pontevedra Mayor Jose Maria Alonso said the couple from London tested positive for COVID-19 for a second time on Friday. They also tested positive for the virus two days after they arrived in Negros Occidental from Manila on January 16, he said.
There are parameters that are used to determine if a patient may have the UK variant, the mayor said.
The husband’s test results Friday met the parameters for the new variant, but his wife’s results did not, the mayor said.
However, as a precaution samples from the wife will also be sent to the Philippine Genome Center along with her husband’s to determine if they have been hit by the UK variant or not, he added.*