CEBU CITY, Philippines — With the the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) being ‘zoonotic’ in origin or a disease that is transmissible in nature from vertebrate animals to humans, Cebu province may consider a joint approach between the Provincial Veterinary Office and Provincial Health Office in deterring and combatting the disease.
Dr. Mary Rose Vincoy, Cebu Provincial veterinarian, suggested this approach in handling the 2019 n-CoV threat the province and the country was facing.
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Both Vincoy and Dr. Christina Gianggo, Provincial Health Officer, said that their offices might share notes and information to intensify their monitoring and surveillance on the presence of 2019-nCoV.
“Usahay dili siya mo-show og signs sa animals pero pag-abot sa kuan, kon makakita siya og species nga ma-transmittan like humans, adto na siya mag-manifest [og symptoms],” Vincoy told CDN Digital.
(Sometimes, the animals will not show signs that they are carriers of the virus, but when they transmit the virus to other species like humans, it is when the signs of the virus are manifested.)
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“Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said in their website.
Vincoy said the One Health approach, or the multi-sectoral approach in addressing human health concerns, are already being practiced in the province’s program on rabies.
Gianggo, for her part, said her office would be willing to exchange information with the PVO on their monitoring and surveillance to deter the entry of the 2019-nCoV in the province.
All the four provincial and 12 Capitol-run district hospitals are currently under white alert in-line with the 2019-nCoV monitoring.
Gianggo also said the municipal health units, district and provincial hospitals would be continuing to submit their weekly report on the health cases hat they would be handling./dbs