The Department of Health has announced the detection of 18 new UK variant cases in the country based on the 757 samples sequenced by the UP-PGC on February 18. This brings the total of UK COVID-19 cases in the country to 62.

The DOH and PGC also confirmed that two more patients from Region 7 tested positive for the N501Y and E484K COVIFD-19 mutations bringing the total to 34.

Thirteen (13) of UK COVID-19 cases are Returning Overseas Filipinos (ROFs) who entered the country between January 3 to 27, 2021.

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“All of these cases are now tagged as recovered and the DOH is currently investigating compliance to isolation protocols and the contact tracing done for these ROFs,” the DOH said in a statement.

Three (3) other UK COVID-19 cases are from the Cordillera Administrative Region. Two of them are 12 years old and were from the Bonto, Mountain Province cluster.

The third case is a 41-year-old female, is connected to the first La Trinidad cluster.

“All 3 cases are now tagged as recovered and all close contacts have completed quarantine following immediate contact tracing and isolation to swiftly contain transmission among the Bontoc and La Trinidad clusters,” the DOH said.

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Two more UK COVID-19 cases are still being verified if these are local cases or Returning Overseas Filipinos.

The DOH is also conducting contact tracing and isolation on the case of new COVID-19 mutations.

“The DOH, UP-PGC, and UP-NIH are preparing to submit these new findings to the World Health Organization and the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) to aid in the ongoing global effort to track and study new and emerging genomic changes in the SARS-COV-2 virus, which vaccine manufacturers may use to recalibrate vaccines and ensure efficacy against COVID-19,” the DOH said. (TDT)

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