34 close contacts test positive for COVID-19 in Bontoc, not UK variant

Thirty-four close contacts of UK variant cases in Bontoc, Mountain Province tested positive for COVID-19, but not for the UK variant.

The total number of individuals infected with the UK variant in Bontoc remains at 12, with the DOH confirming local transmission of the variant.

Four close contacts of a returning overseas Filipino infected with the UK variant also tested positive for the new variant.

These four cases subsequently infected eight more close contacts, indicating a chain of transmission.

However, questions remain on how the UK variant spread in Bontoc.

The returning Filipino traveler tested positive for COVID-19, but his samples did not contain the UK variant, while his wife tested negative.

Twenty-eight other specimens from close contacts are still awaiting genome sequencing.

In La Trinidad, Benguet, four household members of a COVID-19 patient, who is a close contact of a UK variant case, have tested positive for COVID-19.