Zamboanga City logs 54 South Africa variant cases

Zamboanga City confirmed 54 cases of the South Africa variant (B.1.351) and one case of the P.3 variant.

Additionally, two cases of the United Kingdom variant (B.1.1.7) were identified in the Zambo Peninsula.

These variant cases were identified after the Department of Health and Philippine Genome Center conducted genome sequencing on 56 samples from Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Sibugay, and Zamboanga del Sur.

Out of the 54 South Africa variant cases, 51 are from Zamboanga City.

Of the 52 total variant cases identified from Zamboanga City, 37 have recovered while 15 have passed away, some of whom had pre-existing health conditions.

The local government is intensifying contact tracing efforts to swiftly manage and isolate COVID-19 infections.

Residents are urged to strictly adhere to health protocols such as wearing face masks and face shields, practicing hand hygiene, and maintaining physical distancing due to the increased transmissibility of the variants.