ILOILO City – This city recorded its first case of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the virus causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) – a 46-year-old unvaccinated male seafarer from Arevalo district.
The case is currently in isolation at the city’s quarantine facility in Barangay So-oc, Arevalo, according to City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU) head Dr. Marigold Calsas.
The seafarer – asymptomatic – has no close contact since arriving on Dec. 24. Though married, he is separated from his wife and is living alone in their house.
Still, Mayor Jerry Treñas ordered a thorough investigation of the case, and specifically contact tracing.
Initial backtracking done by the CESU showed the seafarer with a travel history to South African countries such as Somalia and Kenya.
He disembarked at a port in Kenya on Dec. 12, 2021, underwent quarantine in a hotel there, and tested negative for the virus after submitting to reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on Dec. 14.
Following the negative result, the seafarer traveled from Kenya to Cebu on Dec. 15 via Qatar Airways and arrived at 9:30 p.m. the next day.
He booked in a Cebu hotel for quarantine and again tested negative for COVID as per the RT-PCR result released on Dec. 19.
He traveled to Iloilo City from Cebu on Dec. 24 by plane.
He was home- quarantined and swabbed on the third day, Dec. 27, as part of the protocols. This time, however, his RT-PCR test yielded a positive result, thus he was transferred to the city’s quarantine facility.
“All data will be updated as soon as we further investigate the Omicron case through our health personnel, the Department of Health (DOH), and contact tracers,” Calsas said.
The patient’s specimen was sent to the Philippine Genome Sequencing Center. His sequencing result, which showed his being positive for the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus, was received by the CESU on Jan. 4, 2022.
Calsas said the patient will be quarantined for another 14 days because he is asymptomatic, based on the guidelines of the Department of Health (DOH) and Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).
He will be re-swabbed after 14 days and if he still turns out positive, he will stay for another seven days.
Moreover, Calsas said, DOH is tracing the seafarer’s fellow airplane passengers from Cebu for health surveillance.
In the patient’s flight of the seafarer from Cebu, seven other passengers were Ilonggos.
“Ang flight details and mga upod ‘ya sa airplane, may kopya na ang DOH and naga-trace subong ang aton surveillance team, naga-validate if okay ang mga taga-Iloilo. Ang iban gin-endorse na sa iban nga provinces (through their respective epidemiology and surveillance units),” said Calsas.
The seafarer is the second reported case of the Omicron variant in Western Visayas. The first case was recorded in Bacolod City – a 38-year old crew of a cruise ship.
Meanwhile, anticipating a surge in infections, Mayor Treñas instructed the preparation of the city’s quarantine facilities. He also ordered the imposition of stricter travel and quarantine protocols.
Treñas reiterated the need for vaccination and getting a booster shot.
“DOH will be sending us 100,000 doses of Pfizer and 100,000 doses of Moderna vaccines this week. We will be using these vaccines as booster shots and vaccination,” he said.
The city has recorded a total of 16 confirmed cases on Jan. 4, mostly with a history of travel. /PN
