MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) continues with its contact tracing efforts to locate eight more travelers from South Africa, a health official said on Monday.
In an online media briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire stated that the eight unidentified travelers were among the 253 people who arrived in the country between Nov. 15 and Nov. 29.
“Of the 253 [travelers], 80 have been verified and located. Seventy-seven of these are returning overseas Filipinos and three are foreign nationals from Region 6, verified but have not been located yet,” she added.
Vergeire also revealed that four travelers, three foreign nationals and one returning overseas Filipino from Western Visayas, were retested for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) on December 1 and were all negative.
“About 71 are in quarantine facility including the three verified foreign nationals, four returning overseas Filipinos are in home quarantine while five were already discharged after completing the 14-day quarantine,” she said.
Vergeire told reporters, citing the most recent genome sequencing run, that no Omicron variant cases have been detected in the samples gathered, with the majority of the findings being Delta variant cases.
She also mentioned that the genome sequencing result of a traveler from South Africa who tested positive for Covid-19 might be disclosed on December 8.
The traveler, as well as two others from Burkina Faso and Egypt who tested positive for Covid-19, arrived between November 15 and 29.
“Itong mga tine-test natin, meron tayong 12 samples ng returning overseas Filipinos na nira-run natin ngayon sa (What we’re testing, we have 12 samples of returning overseas Filipinos) smaller machine of Philippine Genome Center for a faster processing time,” Vergeire said.
“Hopefully, by tomorrow afternoon o kaya Wednesday morning, makuha natin agad ang mga resultang ito, kasama nito ang South African na nag-positibo (or Wednesday morning, we can get their results, including that of the South African who tested positive for Covid-19),” she added.
Vergeire reminded the public that in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus and its variants, they should always adhere to the minimum public health standards — wearing a face mask, physical distancing, regular handwashing, and proper air ventilation inside enclosed spaces.
