DOH now verifying close contacts of seafarers infected with India COVID-19 variant

DOH now verifying close contacts of seafarers infected with India COVID-19 variant
CNN Philippines Staff May 12, 2021 https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2021/5/12/close-contacts-India-COVID-var...

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 12) — The Department of Health is now looking into the health status of the close contacts on board the plane of two Filipino seafarers who contracted the "double mutant" B.1.617.2 COVID-19 variant first found in India.

Health Undersecretary and Spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire told CNN Philippines on Wednesday that the DOH is now checking the swab test results of at least 32 close contacts of the two seafarers.

Vergeire said there were at least six identified passengers who were seated near the 37-year-old seafarer who returned from Oman last April 10. Meanwhile the 58-year-old seafarer from the United Arab Emirates who arrived in the Philippines on April 19 had at least 26 close contacts inside the plane.

"We are getting information because all of these returning overseas Filipino workers are tested on the fifth and sixth day when they arrive," Vergeire told CNN Philippines' The Source. "We are just finding their names in our laboratory system so we will know the information on their results."

"'Pag sinabing close contact at nasa eroplano, merong protocol (When you say close contacts inside an airplane, there's a protocol)," Vergeire explained. "It’s four seats behind, four seats in front and the ones beside [the patient]."

The department noted that the two patients — who had no history of travel to India — have already recovered after completing their isolation in their quarantine facilities and in their respective homes.

Meanwhile, the results on the samples taken from travelers with travel history to India have yet to be released. Of the five passengers from the South Asian country who tested positive last week, only two samples have undergone genomic sequencing, with no other variant of concern.

The DOH also said that of the 12 Filipino seafarers onboard MTV Athens Bridge from India who tested positive for COVID-19, they will have to conduct a re-swabbing since only nine samples are eligible to be sent to the Philippine Genome Center for sequencing. Vergeire did not say when the results will likely be out.

The Philippine government only imposed travel restrictions on India on April 29.

Infectious diseases expert Dr. Rontgene Solante told CNN Philippines on Wednesday that there is still no proof that the B.1.617.2 COVID-19 variant can significantly affect the efficacy of the available vaccines in the country, but he advised the government to ramp up its inoculation and sequencing efforts.

The variant has already been classified by the World Health Organization as a "variant of concern" or one found to have increased transmissibility or detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology; increase in virulence; or potential decrease in effectiveness of public health measures, medicine, or vaccines.