MANILA, Philippines — One of the additional cases who tested positive for the more contagious coronavirus variant is linked to the cluster of COVID-19 infections reported in the Metro Rail Transit 3 depot, the Department of Health said Monday.
In a briefing, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the case, a 46-year-old woman from Pasay City, is the parent of an MRT-3 employee. She tested positive for COVID-19 on January 25 and is currently undergoing home quarantine.
“The [DOH] regional office in the National Capital Region is investigating the case,” Vergeire said.
In January, at least 36 office personnel and six maintenance workers of MRT-3 had been found positive for COVID-19. The depot was placed under “enhanced access control” due to COVID-19 cases.
It is unclear if the samples of those who tested positive in the train depot were submitted for genome sequencing to determine the presence of the new variant first seen in the United Kingdom.
Other cases
The case from Pasay City is among the 19 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant reported by the DOH last week.
One of the cases is a 20-year-old woman from Mountain Province who yielded a positive result in her pre-departure test conducted in the capital region. She returned to Mt. Province where she is isolated at home.
Another variant case is a 37-year-old man from Bukidnon but spent “long periods of time” in Metro Manila as part of his training. He tested positive on January 25.
Another patient is a 25-year-old woman from Dasmariñas, Cavite who is undergoing isolation in Central Luzon after testing positive on January 31.
A 47-year-old woman from Las Piñas who arrived from Morocco last January 12 completed her 10-day isolation. But Vergeire said her second test yielded a positive result, so she was advised to continue her home isolation.
Authorities are checking if the case from Rizal, a 47-year-old male, is a returning overseas Filipino.
To date, there are 44 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant in the country since officials first detected a case in mid-January. But Vergeire said there is not sufficient evidence to prove there is community transmission of the new variant.
The DOH earlier confirmed the local transmission of the new COVID-19 variant in Bontoc, Mountain Province. Local transmission indicates locations where the source of infection is within the reporting location.
Experts warned that an increase in the transmission of the new variant will lead to more people getting infected and sick, which can overwhelm the country's health system anew.