MANILA - The Department of Health on Thursday clarified that only 5, not 6 travelers, from India tested positive for COVID-19.

Of the 149 individuals who came from India in April, 137 tested negative, 1 is still recuperating from the disease while the disposition of 4 other COVID-19 patients is still being verified, the DOH said in a statement.

"The test results of the 7 remaining travelers are currently being verified," it said.

"Samples from these positive cases are currently being determined if they are adequate for sequencing," it said.

Of these travelers, 129 are Filipinos and 20 are foreign nationals.

• 6 travelers from India test positive for COVID-19, says DOH

Last week, the Philippines joined other countries in imposing a travel ban to and from India after at least 2 million people were infected with COVID-19 in the South Asian country.

On Wednesday, the Philippine government expanded the travel ban to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to further arrest the spread of the virus.

• Philippines expands travel ban as precaution vs Indian COVID-19 variant
• Indian scientists flag virus mutations that could 'evade immune response'

As of May 3, authorities have yet to confirm the presence of the Indian variant in the Philippines, but has monitored 1,075 B.1351 variant cases (first detected in South Africa), 948 B.1.1.7 variant cases (first detected in UK), 157 P.3 variant cases (first detected in the Philippines), and 2 P.1 variant cases (first detected in Brazil).

"The detection of these variants... do not mean that these variants are now the dominant variants in the country," the DOH said.

"There is a disproportionately higher number of samples being sequenced from areas with reported clustering, increased severe and critical cases, and a bigger presence of returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs)," it said.

• COVID-19 variant detected in PH 'developed locally', may be more transmissible: expert

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