Metro News

Mother, girlfriend of Filipino infected with UK variant also test positive
The mother and the girlfriend of a patient found positive for the UK variant have contracted the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte said in a report by Philippine News Agency.
Belmonte, however, clarified in an interview with the Philippine News Agency that they are still waiting for the test results from the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) to identify whether the two are also positive for the UK B.1.1.7 variant.
“For those worrying about the case of the mother and the girlfriend of the B 1.1.7 variant positive, let us not react prematurely, both are in quarantine and in isolation and will remain there, and both have not yet tested positive for B 1.1.7. Just wait for the test results from the PGC to come out before we drop our conclusions,” she said.
Advertisement
Before the girlfriend of the patient identified to be infected with the UK variant was brought to an isolation facility by the city government, Belmonte said she was sent on home quarantine by the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) after she tested negative for Covid-19.
Belmonte clarified that the decision to send her home was not the move of the local government unit but of the BOQ, since it was the office assigned to keep passengers arriving from another country in a facility.
She said BOQ decided to send her home and undergo home quarantine.
“I asked bakit nasa house, sabi nila na yung UAE (United Arab Emirates) is not a flagged country. Kung umuwi ka and you're not from a flagged country pala and nag negative ka, pwede kang mag quarantine sa bahay kung mag isa ka. Protocol yan ng BOQ wala kaming kinalaman diyan (I asked why she in her house, they told me that UAE is not a flagged country. If you go back to the Philippines and you test negative for Covid-19 and you’re not from a flagged country, you can do home quarantine if you are alone in your house. That’s BOQ protocol, we don’t have anything to do with that),” she said.
Belmonte added that she also believes that the mother of the UK variant-positive patient acquired Covid-19 independently and not directly from her son.
She said this is because the son, who later tested positive for the variant, tested negative twice, before leaving the country and upon arriving in Dubai.
After arriving from Dubai, the mother and son did not have any encounter as he was isolated right away.
Aside from the mother and the girlfriend, Belmonte assured that there is no other person from the immediate contacts who tested positive for Covid-19.
Belmonte said the city government conducted a very strict contact tracing effort on all the possible contacts of the first B.1.1.7 positive patient.
Meanwhile, the first patient who tested positive for the UK variant Covid-19 has already recovered but Belmonte said he will stay for another week in the isolation facility.
Share your thoughts with us
Related Articles

DOH reports 1,557 cases on Feb. 24
The country reported 1,557 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, raising the total to 566,420, the Department of Health said in a report by CNN Philippines. The department's case bulletin noted 30,970 active or currently ill patients, which is e...

PCAP postpones chess games
The Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) called off its scheduled matches supposed to take place on Saturday night, according to a report by Philippine News Agency. In a statement posted earlier in the day, the league acknow...

Caloocan completes new crematorium
Tapos na ang konstruksyon ng bagong crematorium facility sa Sangandaan na proyekto ni Mayor Oca Malapitan. Noong Biyernes ay nagsagawa na ng inspeksyon sa pasilidad ang mga kinatawan ng Department of Health at inaantay na lamang na maging aprubado i...

The struggles in 2020 of the casino industry in the Philippines
Do you want to learn more about the challenges and predictions for the gambling industry in the Philippines? Find all answers in this article!