The Department of Health said yesterday that the Philippines still has no confirmed case of the 2019 novel coronavirus, saying that the suspected case involving a five-year-old boy from China is still being probed.
“We have no confirmed case. Hindi natin alam kung free tayo but we don’t have a confirmed case,” Health Undersecretary Rolando Enrique Domingo said.
Domingo said that the laboratory result that will confirm whether or not the child was infected with the coronavirus is not yet available.
“The sample – it took some time to coordinate with the transport of the biological samples but it is now in Melbourne in Australia. Depending on the laboratory, we expect results within 24 to 48 hours. The earliest would probably be by tomorrow afternoon (Jan. 24), if not we’re going to get the result by Saturday (Jan. 25),” said Domingo.
“The patient is still admitted. The patient is having a mild cough but no fever. So far, the patient is doing well but we are not discharging the child because according to our protocol, if you are suspected of having this new coronavirus – we only discharge the patient after testing negative,” he added.
Domingo also disclosed that authorities have located the supposed family members of a Chinese man who was reportedly infected with the coronavirus.
“The Cebu Pacific has been very helpful and we’ve been working with the Bureau of Immigration and other airport authorities and the epidemiology bureau has already located and contacted the four family members and none of them are suffering from any illness,” said Domingo.
The Health official said that there is no need to do any test or hold them in isolation.
“The advice is really for them to continue keeping in touch with us and we will be monitoring them. Kung may maramdaman o magkasakit sila then they will be contacting us but our epidemiology agents are contacting them regularly,” Domingo assured.
Domingo said that the country still has one suspected case of coronavirus and that is the five-year-old boy from China who arrived in Cebu City last Jan. 12.
He said that health experts deem that the coronavirus will continue to spread in other countries.
“Well, I think that the World Health Organization position right now is that the virus is really going to spread. It has already gone to several countries,” said Domingo.
Aside from China where the virus likely originated, Domingo noted that cases of the new virus have been documented in some countries like Thailand, Korea, Japan “and there is a confirmed case in the US, which is even further.” (Analou de Vera)