Bulacan OFWs stricken by UK, South Africa variants now well
CITY OF MALOLOS—Three overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who caught the United Kingdom and South African variants of the coronavirus disease have since recovered, according to the Bulacan Provincial Public Health Office.
They have been discharged and have returned home, said Dr. Hjordis Marushka Celis, who heads the Response Cluster of the Provincial COVID-19 Task Force.
One of their 15 close contacts had tested positive for the disease, and the patient’s samples were sent out for genome sequencing, she said on Saturday. Three of them have been cleared of COVID-19, Celis added.
The variant-afflicted migrant workers completed their 14-day isolation at an Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Quarantine Operations facility when their gene results came out.
One of them is a 41-year-old man from Bulakan town who arrived from Qatar on Feb. 14. He had a mild flu but had no close contact.
The other two are women who have been asymptomatic. The 33-year-old OFW flew back from Dubai on Feb. 11, and was under home quarantine in San Ildefonso town, while the 35-year-old woman, who arrived from the United Arab Emirates on Feb. 15, was also isolated at home in the City of San Jose del Monte.
Bulacan hospitals are still treating 895 active COVID-19 cases. The province has a total 13,444 infections, but 12,176 of the patients have since recovered. The province has 473 fatalities.
Vaccine rollout
On Friday, 7,050 doses of vaccines produced by British drugmaker AstraZeneca arrived in Bulacan, representing the second batch intended for medical front-liners of public and private hospitals in the province, said Gov. Daniel Fernando.
In Zambales province, about 101 doses of AstraZeneca were delivered on Friday by the Department of Health (DOH) for health-care workers of the President Ramon Magsaysay Hospital and other hospitals in the province.
Zambales recorded five new infections that raised the province’s total cases to 971. The province has 26 active cases, 922 recoveries and 22 deaths as of March 12.
In Cagayan Valley, the region’s health officials have received 10,720 doses of AstraZeneca and 10,640 doses of the Chinese vaccine CoronaVac, which were the second doses for medical workers who were inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccines produced by Sinovac Biotech Ltd. in the first week of March, said Dr. Rio Magpantay, DOH director in Cagayan Valley.