The health status of the 41 close contacts of the two seafarers detected to have the B.1.617 coronavirus variant is currently being checked by the Department of Health (DOH).
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the 37-year-old seafarer from Oman, had six close contacts on his flight.
Meanwhile, the 58-year-old man from the United Arab Emirates had 35 close contacts on the plane. The DOH previously said that he only had 26 close contacts.
“Nireview po namin uli yung manifesto at data systems, nasa 35 na po yung close contacts doon sa perimeter nitong case two (We reviewed the manifesto and data systems again, there are already 35 close contacts on the perimeter of this case two),” said Vergeire.
The Health official said that they “are tracing all of them and trying to check all of their statuses.”
Vergeire also assured the public that the 41 close contacts were quarantined and tested upon their arrival in the country.
“But to just give you information, itong lahat ng taong ito ay na subject sa ating protocol pagdating dito (all these people were subjected to our protocol when they arrived here). They were either tested on the 5th or 6th day and they had completed their quarantine at the national and local government level,” she said.
“The protocols were followed and hopefully hindi naman po tayo nagkaroon ng breaches in protocols para masabi natin na merong danger para sa ating mga kababayan (there were no breaches in protocols for us to say that there is danger for our citizens),” she added.
Last Tuesday, May 11, Vergeire said that the country’s first two cases of B.1.617 coronavirus variant have already recovered from COVID-19.
The B.1.617 coronavirus variant was first detected in India and is now present in 42 countries, said DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III.