The Department of Health (DOH) said it already traced 22 passengers who boarded the same plane with the country's fourth Omicron coronavirus variant case.
"As of Dec. 29, 2021, the DOH has found 22 close contacts of the 4th case from PR 127 flight. This includes the husband of the case, who also tested positive," the Health department said in a statement.
The DOH said it is now determining the health status of these individuals.
“The DOH is currently verifying the test results of all close contacts and have coordinated with the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Units to verify the health status of these cases,” it said.
The fourth Omicron case—a 38-year-old woman— arrived on Dec. 10 via Philippine Airlines flight PR 127 from the United States with her husband.
Both of them are currently in isolation. The DOH said that the specimen of the husband of the country’s fourth Omicron case was already sent to the Philippine Genome Center for sequencing to determine if he also carries the new coronavirus variant.