Health Secretary Francisco Duque revealed that a traveler from the United Kingdom who has arrived in the country tested positive for the coronavirus disease or COVID-19.

Duque said that the patient was among the 79 travelers who arrived in the country from December 22-25.

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72 of them arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport while 7 flew to Clark International Airport.

“Base sa report kahapon, 59 na ang mayroong test results kung saan 53 po ang negative ngunit may isa pong nagpositibo sa COVID at inaantabayan natin ang 23 na natitirang resulta,” Duque said during an inter-agency meeting.

Duque however clarified that the test conducted was only to determine if a person is infected with SARS-Cov 2 and not to determine if the variant is the one from the United Kingdom.

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“Yung testing po nito hindi nangangahulugan na ito na ‘yung new variant dahil magsasagawa pa po ng pagsusuri ang ating mga eksperto mula sa Philippine Genome Center,” Duque said.

The Philippines has suspended all flights from the UK starting December 24 to 31. (TDT)