Residents here are being cautioned on the new coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) variant.

In a public announcement, health authorities in the province are calling for all customers of Leaños Eatery located at the Badoc border from February 9 until 1:00 p.m. of February 14, 2021 to cooperate and report immediately to their respective Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs) because they are considered as third-generation contacts of a patient affected by the more infectious UK variant of SARS Cov2, called “B.1.1.7”.

“They should undergo a 14-day quarantine and be subjected to RT-PCR (Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) test,” stated the advisory released to the media on Monday.

The Leaños Eatery is currently on lockdown while contact tracing is ongoing to those who may have been exposed from the primary contacts of a returning resident from Bahrain who tested positive of the UK variant.

According to Dr. Rina Corpuz, quarantine facility head of Ilocos Norte, the patient was a “confirmed recovered case [of Covid-19] and has completed the 14-day facility quarantine in Metro Manila” before he traveled home to Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte.

It was only on Feb. 14 when health authorities of the province were informed that the UK variant was detected in the patient whose specimen was collected while on quarantine in Metro Manila.

As a health and safety protocol in the province, all Ilocos Norte returning residents, regardless of Covid-19 test result are required to undergo 14-day quarantine.

“We were very concerned on the possibility and threat of the new UK variant. We really don’t know where’s the UK variant. So, quarantine is a must,” said Governor Matthew Joseph Manotoc when asked about quarantine protocols in the province.

Meanwhile, the two reported primary contacts of the recovered patient will also undergo confirmatory testing on Tuesday (Feb. 16, 2021) to see if they are free from the UK variant. (PNA)