Omicron has entered Western Visayas as Bacolod logs its first case of the covid-19 variant.
The person who tested positive on December 31, a returning Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) was a “recovered” Omicron patient. He works on a cruise ship and went back to his home in Bacolod after being cleared by a facility in Manila.
Omicron Patient Timeline
- Fully vaxxed (Janssen vaccine) in May 2021 and had a booster in November
- Tested negative on December 12 with RT-PCR test in Florida
- Traveled from Miami to New York
- Took a 15-hour plane trip to Manila and arrived on December 15
- Developed symptoms on December 17 while in quarantine in Malate, Manila
- Had the RT-PCR test on December 19 (5th day of Quarantine)
- Received positive result on December 20
- Transferred to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) designated isolation facility in Manila on December 24
- Already asymptomatic from December 20 until December 31
- He was not given a second RT-PCR test by the Manila facility
- Cleared as a fully recovered patient on December 31 with total of 16 days in quarantine
- Flew to Bacolod and met his wife
- The couple was sent to an isolation center and took RT-PCR tests
- The man’s positive result was released on the evening of January 3 while his wife tested negative.
The man is said to be “less infectious” as he has a 36.7 cycle threshold (CT value). This value is the measure of the viral load of a patient. The higher the CT value, the less likely they are to be infectious.
Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia explained that this happened because his genome sequencing result came out late.
Bacolod has also strengthened its border controls last January 3, after the omicron case was revealed.
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