BACOLOD City – Two individuals in Negros
Occidental are now considered as patients under investigation (PUIs) for
suspected infection of the novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease or
2019-nCoV ARD, the City of Health Office (CHO) revealed.
CHO Environment and Sanitation Division
head Grace Tan said they are closely monitoring the two PUIs admitted
for isolation at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Regional Hospital pending the
result of their laboratory test from the Research Institute for Tropical
Medicine.
Tan clarified that the two PUIs are not residents of this city.
She said one of the PUIs was a 43-year-old male Canadian national married to a Filipina and has traveled from Taiwan. The other one is a 12-year-old boy, who has traveled from Macau, Hongkong.
The two are separated cases, Tan said.
She appealed to the public do not withhold information if they have history of travel in China, Macau, Hongkong, Taiwan and any neighboring countries.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson meanwhile called on the public to be calm and continue their normal routine.
Lacson emphasized that there is no confirmed case yet of the virus in the province, only the two reported PUIs, who were in quarantine.
According to the World Health Organization, the 2019-nCoV has spread globally, affecting 22 places outside of mainland China.
The cases in China exceeded the number infected by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2002 and 2003, but SARS has a higher mortality rate so far.
SARS is caused by SARS coronavirus, which is of the same family of viruses as 2019-nCoV. (With WHO/PN)
