The Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday, Dec. 20 that it detected the country's third case of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) variant Omicron from a returning overseas Filipino (ROF).
In a press briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the ROF is a 36-year-old man, who is a sea-based Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) who arrived from Qatar but had a travel history in Egypt.
He arrived via Qatar Airways flight QR 924 at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) on Nov. 28 and his sample was collected on December 4, and his result was released on December 5.
Vergeire shared that the man completed his isolation in Cebu before traveling back to his hometown in Cavite on Dec. 17 where he is under home quarantine. She added his whole genome sequencing result came out on Dec. 18 and he was then located and tested. He is currently asymptomatic and has tested negative for COVID-19 on Sunday, Dec. 19. He is now finishing his home quarantine and has remained asymptomatic.
Three close contacts were identified by the DOH according to Vergeire who are still under home quarantine and have tested negative for COVID-19.
She added that they are also verifying the test results and health status of all passengers of the flight if there are other confirmed cases or passengers who became symptomatic after arrival and that they are also coordinating with the task group on the management of ROFs to complete the details of the flights of this individual.