BA.2.12 subvariant no impact on Baguio's COVID-19 cases —Magalong

The detection of the COVID-19 Omicron subvariant BA.2.12 in Baguio City had no effect on the number of the city's coronavirus cases, Mayor Benjamin Magalong said on Thursday.

According to Jasmin Gabriel Galban's report on "24 Oras", city health officials traced the case's close contacts but none of them tested positive for COVID-19.

“Nag-conduct naman tayo ng contact tracing, gumawa naman tayo ng tamang pag-test sa mga contact. Wala tayong na detect na cases na close contact nitong case natin," Baguio City health officer Dr. Rowena Galpo said.

"None of them exhibited any signs and symptoms,” she added.

(We conducted contact tracing. We tested her close contacts. We did not detect any positive cases from her. None of them exhibited any signs and symptoms.)

The BA.2.12 case is a Finnish national who went to  Baguio from Quezon City on April 7 to join a seminar. She experienced symptoms three days later on April 10 and tested positive for COVID-19 in an RT-PCR test.

The foreign national went home on April 20 after finishing her isolation.

The city health officials said it immediately conducted contact tracing and identified 20 persons who interacted with her.

Local officials, however, believe her visit did not cause local transmission since the city only registered 16 COVID-19 cases from April 1 to 27.

“Looking at the timeline, it appears na walang impact do'n sa cases natin kasi nangyari ang incident [April] 11 eh. Walang increase… Kaya sa tingin ko we were able to control and manage the situation,” Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong said.

Business worries

Entrepreneurs in the Summer Capital are worried that the detection of the Omicron subvariant would affect their businesses just when they start to recover from the ill effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Isa po talaga sa dulot ng pandemya 'yung kaunting mabalitaan lang na sakit kinakabahan na tayo lahat kasi hindi naman po biro yung pinagdaanan natin,” business owner Darwin Alquizar said.

(One of the effects of the pandemic is we immediately get worried because what we experienced before is no laughing matter.)

The local government assured tourists that they may still continue visiting Baguio city. They should also not be alarmed by the news and continue observing minimum health protocols.

However, it encouraged Filipinos to complete their Covid-19 vaccine doses to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. —Sundy Locus/NB, GMA News