12 cases of UK coronavirus variant surface in Mountain Province

Inquirer Northern Luzon / 10:03 PM January 22, 2021

BAGUIO CITY–Twelve cases of the UK variant of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were detected in Mountain Province, authorities said on Friday (Jan. 22).

All the patients were from Bontoc town, the capital of Mountain Province, and the infections have been traced to a cluster of cases in the province since Dec. 27 last year, records from the Department of Health (DOH) in Cordillera showed.

The patients, five women and seven men, were subjected to coronavirus tests from Jan. 3-9.

It was not immediately known how the patients contracted the more infectious UK strain of SARS Cov2, called B.1.1.7. It is said to be up to 70 percent more contagious.

But earlier, a businessman from Quezon City had tested positive for the UK variant after returning to Mountain Province from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on Jan. 7.

The United Kingdom is one of the European countries flagged by immigration and health officials due to the coronavirus variant.

In a statement, Bontoc Mayor Franklin Odsey said the local government was doing its best to contain the infections.

SOURCE: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1387160/12-cases-of-uk-coronavirus-variant-surface-in-mountain-province?fbclid=IwAR2vzbx_6VNE-cf5uuZGurRJRn1x20MIjsmcMLre_3sMh9lXNxFPjQIvRh0