THE National Bureau of Investigation has located and turned over to the Department of Health (DOH) an airline passenger who had close contact with a man who tested positive for new COVID-19 variant B117.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra also disclosed that the whereabouts of the other contact was already pinpointed, and would soon be picked up for transfer to a health facility.
“The DOJ, through the NBI, has located and turned over to the DOH one close contact, and discovered the location of another close contact, of the first arriving passenger who tested positive for the UK variant of COVID-19,” Guevarra said in a message.
The two were co-passengers of the 29-year-old Filipino real estate agent who tested positive for the more infectious United Kingdom (UK) COVID-19 variant.
They flew in aboard Emirates Flight No. EK 332 from Dubai to Manila last January 7.
The new COVID-19 variant known as B117 was first detected in the United Kingdom in September. In November, around a quarter of the reported COVID-19 cases in the country were found to be of the new variant of the SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Health experts have said that viruses naturally mutate. Scientists earlier said they observed minor mutations in the coronavirus that have not impacted its ability to spread or cause disease in any significant way.
