THE Department of Health (DOH) yesterday said a 36-year-old returning overseas Filipino is the country’s third Omicron variant case of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
In a virtual press briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the patient was found positive for the Omicron variant last December 18.
Vergeire said the ROF arrived in Cebu from Qatar via Qatar Airways with flight number QR 924 last November 28.
The male seafarer was tested on December 4 while under quarantine and netted a positive result for COVID-19 on December 5. He stayed in isolation until December 16 before he was allowed to travel to his hometown of Cavite on December 17.
Vergeire said the whole genome sequencing results came out on December 18.
He has been retested and yielded a negative result on December 19, she also said.
“He finished five days of quarantine plus period of isolation before he was able to travel back home,” said Vergeire.
Vergeire said the seafarer had three close contacts based on the flight manifest from Qatar Airways. “We were able monitor that they are on home quarantine. They were already retested and all of them turned out to be negative,” she said.
Vergeire said the seafarer was found to be unvaccinated and has been endorsed for vaccination against COVID-19.
Last week, the DOH reported the detection of the first two cases of the Omicron variant in the Philippines.
The first case is a 48-year-old Filipino male from Japan, while the second case is a 37-year-old Nigerian male from Nigeria.
The DOH has already traced and identified all 8 close contacts of the two cases, with all testing negative for COVID-19.
Aside from the third Omicron variant case, the DOH also reported the detection of 496 additional Delta (B.1.617.2; Indian lineage) variant cases, or 78.73 percent of the 630 samples sequenced by the Philippine Genome Center.
This brings the total of Delta variant cases in the country to 8,415.
One additional Alpha variant case had also been detected by the DOH, bringing the total to 3,169 cases in the Philippines.
CASE SURGE
On the heels of the devastation caused by Typhoon Odette, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire expressed concerns over the potential risk of seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases in evacuation centers in areas affected by the calamity.
“Under these circumstances, we can no longer maintain our family bubbles. It is inevitable that they will be mixed with other households. So, the risk will always be there (to see a surge in cases),” said Vergeire.
Similarly, the health official also admitted the possibility of having COVID-19 cases being underreported in typhoon-hit areas because of the inability of COVID-19 laboratories in the areas to either operate or submit their data amid communication woes.
“As to the underreported cases, that is expected right now. In the coming days, things will slowly normalize and we will be able to capture our actual numbers,” said Vergeire.
“Whatever data will reach us that weren’t reported because of operational issues, we will just report them in the coming days,” she added.
Because of these possibilities, the health department reiterated their call to families staying in evacuation centers to strictly observe the minimum health protocols.
Vergeire said they are also urging evacuation center managers to ensure proper air ventilation inside the evacuation centers, and to designate safety officers in the facilities.
FLAGGED AREAS
But ahead of the feared surge in typhoon-hit areas, Vergeire reported that they are also flagging five areas that are seeing a slight increase in cases. These are Iligan City, Olongapo City, Camiguin, Tawi-Tawi, and Aklan.
“We are flagging these five days areas after they showed positive one week growth rates (OWGR) and two-week growth rates (TWGR),” said Vergeire.
“All these areas remain with average daily attack rate (ADAR) of less than 1 per 100,000 population,” she added.
Vergeire said Iligan City is currently at “moderate risk” case classification due to its 700 percent one-week growth rate, and 237 percent two-week growth rate.
On the other hand, currently pegged at “low risk” case classification are Olongapo City (400% OWGR), Camiguin (100%), Tawi-Tawi (150%), and Aklan (33.33%).
“We are still studying these five flagged areas and on what are the reasons for the slight increase in their cases,” said Vergeire.
As for the rest of the country, the DOH said all regions in the country are still currently at “minimal risk” case classification.
“All regions are at minimal risk case classification with negative two-week growth rates and average daily attack rates of less than 1 per 100,000 population in the current week,” said Vergeire.
The national two-week growth rate stands at negative 51 percent, while the country’s ADAR is 0.32 per 100,000 population.
