Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros on Sunday pressed Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and heads of the government’s task force against COVID-19 to reveal to the public their contingency plan amid reports of the new COVID variant already in the Philippines.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Thursday said it is possible that the traveler from the Philippines who tested positive for the UK variant of coronavirus in Hong Kong might have been infected there.
January 7, 2021
The traveler from the Philippines who tested positive for the UK COVID-19 variant is a Filipina domestic helper in Hong Kong, the Department of Health confirmed Thursday.
“Yes, the HK case is a Filipina domestic helper,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told reporters.
On Tuesday, Hong Kong authorities reported that a passenger from the Philippines tested positive for the new COVID-19 strain that originated from the UK.
According to Dr. Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Communicable Disease Branch of Hong Kong’s Center for Health Protection, the passenger onboarded Philippine Airlines flight PR300.
“[Patient] 9003 took PR300 and arrived in Hong Kong on the 22nd of December from Philippines,” Chuang said in the special administrative region’s Information Services Department’s briefing.
The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo on Thursday urged the government to work on ensuring there is enough supply of COVID-19 vaccines for all Filipinos instead of resuming deliberations on Charter change (Cha-cha).
Department of Health (DOH) (MANILA BULLETIN)
“We have initiated coordination already with the IHR (International Health Regulations) Focal Point in HK (Hong Kong) to request further details,” said DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
“Also retrieving the flight manifest for the identified flight. We will be informing as soon as we get complete information,” she added.
In a report from Asia Times, Hong Kong officials bared that they detected the presence of the new coronavirus variant from a passenger from the Philippines who arrived in Hong Kong last December 22.
The DOH earlier said that the Philippine Genome Center is currently conducting a study to determine whether or not the new variant is already present in the country.