The Department of Health (DOH) and Philippine Genome Center (PGC) on Wednesday announced that the new coronavirus variant initially discovered in the United Kingdom has been detected in the Philippines.
“The DOH and the PGC today officially confirm the detection of the B.1.1.7. SARS-CoV-2 variant (UK variant) in the country after samples from a Filipino who arrived from the United Arab Emirates on January 7 yielded positive genome sequencing results,” they said in a statement.
Believed to have first emerged in the UK in September last year, the coronavirus variant is more infectious but does not appear to make the illness more severe. However, a more transmissible virus means more cases as a result.
The DOH said the patient is a male resident of Quezon City who left for Dubai on December 27 for business purposes and returned to the country on January 7 aboard Emirates Flight No. EK 332.
The patient was swabbed and underwent quarantine in a hotel upon his return to the Philippines.
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