WITH two travelers from the region arriving with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) B.1.617 (Indian) variant, a travel ban on the entry of passengers from Middle East countries is now being considered by the Department of Health to prevent sick individuals from entering the country.
In a television interview, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said he will recommend to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) the imposition of stricter travel restrictions for those coming from the Middle East.
“I am in touch with our WHO (World Health Organization) country representative in the same manner that we have expanded our travel ban beyond India,” said Duque.
The Philippine government has restricted the entry of travelers from India or those with a travel history to India following the surge of COVID-19 cases in the country. Last week, the travel ban was expanded to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, where the B.1.617 (Indian) variant have also been detected.
The DOH on Tuesday announced that two returning overseas Filipino workers from Oman and United Arab Emirates have tested positive for the Indian variant. The two have recovered and have been allowed to go home.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they are monitoring the health statuses of 32 individuals, identified as close contacts of the two returning seafarers.
According to Vergeire, the 37-year old male from Oman had six close contacts in his April 10 flight, while the 58-year old male from the United Arab Emirates had 26 close contacts inside the plane that arrived last April 19.
“We are looking right now at their co-passengers in their flights. We got the manifesto and we got the arrangement of seats in the plane, where they are. We were able to locate them,” Vergeire said.
“When you say close contacts inside an airplane, there’s a protocol. It’s four seats behind, four seats in front, and the ones beside the patient,” she added.
Vergeire said there were still no other available information as of the moment.
“We are just getting the information because all these returning overseas Filipinos are tested only on the 5th or 6th day when they arrived,” said Vergeire.
Meanwhile, in a virtual press briefing, DOH – Epidemiology Bureau (EB) Director Dr. Alethea De Guzman said the B.1.617 variant has already been detected in 46 other countries.
First detected in India last October 2020, De Guzman said it is called a “double mutant” as it has two mutations of significance, particularly L452R and E484Q.
“Further studies are necessary to understand the transmissibility, infectivity, and effect on vaccine efficacy of the B.1.617 variant,” said De Guzman.
So far, she said the mutation L452R is associated with increased transmissibility and reduced antibody neutralization. “It may help the virus evade antibodies in recovered or vaccinated individuals,” she said.
On the other hand, she said mutation E484Q increases the virus’ binding capacity to the ACE2 receptor. “It may help the virus escape immune response,” she explained.
Duque said that aside from the Indian variant, which the WHO have said were variants of “global concern,” all COVID-19 variants should get equal concern from the public.
Duque is referring to the B.1.1.7 (United Kingdom), B.1.351 (South Africa), P.1 (Brazil), and P.3 (Philippines).
“All variants are a cause for concern,” said Duque. “We have to be really extra careful knowing what is happening in India.”
Data from the DOH shows that of the 7,213 samples that were subjected to genome sequencing, a total of 1,098 are South African variant cases. This is followed by the UK variant cases with 952, Philippine variant cases with 157, India variant cases with 2, and Brazil variant cases with 2.
Duque said the presence of different variants in the country makes it necessary for the government to double its response efforts, particularly having massive prevention campaign, early detection, doing active case finding, contact tracing, aggressive isolation and quarantine, and treating patients.
Similarly, he said the people must intensify their compliance with the minimum public health standards, such as wearing face masks and face shields, physical distancing, and frequent handwashing, as well as getting immunized as soon as possible.
“This cannot be done without everyone’s cooperation, everybody has a role to play here.
Low transmission rate means less chances for the virus to mutate,” stressed Duque.
The Quezon City government said it has apprehended about 3,200 individuals in a “one-time, big-time” joint operation conducted by the Department of Public Order and Safety, QC Police District, Task Force on Transport and Traffic Management, Task Force Disiplina, and Market Development and Administration Department in the city’s 142 barangays.
The violators were brought to the Quezon Memorial Circle for proper documentation and lecture on ordinances related to minimum health protocols in the city. They were also issued Ordinance Violation Receipts (OVR) with a corresponding penalty of P300, P500, and P1,000 for the first, second and third offense respectively.
The city government said apprehended individuals need to pay the fine within a reasonable period. If they fail to pay within the prescribed period, the City Prosecutors Office will file a case that will flag them once they apply for a police clearance for whatever purpose.
To ensure everyone’s safety during the operations, individuals who showed symptoms of COVID-19 such as fever, cough, colds, and difficulty of breathing underwent swab testing.
Meanwhile, the city also provided face masks and face shields to apprehended violators.
DPOS head Gen. Elmo San Diego (Ret.) said the operation aims to lessen the number of health protocol violators in the city.
Mayor Joy Belmonte said the city is intensifying its campaign to warn and educate the residents on minimum health standards.
