Many of the 12 cases of the more contagious COVID-19 UK variant in Bontoc, Mountain Province have recovered and are under home isolation, officials said Thursday.
At least nine have recovered and three are being treated in the hospital, Dr. Ruby Constantino, director of the Cordillera Center for Health Development, told Teleradyo. Bontoc Mayor Franklin Odsey, in a separate interview with ANC said eleven of the patients have recovered and only one is still hospital care.
"The lockdown gave us the opportunity to closely monitor 'yung cases na ito, 'yung mga na-confine sa bahay nila kasi not all of them were hospitalized. True enough, 11 of them have recovered and are continuing their home quarantine and one is still in the hospital," Odsey told ANC.
READ: Lockdowns, Mass Testing in Bontoc as 12 More Fall Sick to UK COVID Variant
Of the 171 initial close contacts of the 12 patients, 39 contracted the disease and their test results have been sent to the Philippine Genome Center, Constantino said.
"Sa ngayon wala pa po kaming nare-receive na resulta po," she said. A total of 645 contact have been traced so far from first to third generation.
The Department of Health has confirmed local transmission of the more transmissible but not necessarily more deadly b.1.1.7 variant in the town, which triggered its local government to impose granular lockdowns and conduct mass testing.
The town has imposed a lockdown similar to the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) until end of January. The central barangays of Bontoc Ili, Caluttit, Poblacion, and Samoki are classified as critical zones.
The town reported a 203% spike in cases over holidays, the health department earlier reported.
As of Jan. 27, Bontoc has 414 cases of which 227 active are active while 187 are in recovery, Odsey who is COVID positive himself but is asymptomatic said.
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