Dr. Jaime Bernadas, Department of Health in Central Visayas director, says he is still verifying reports about the travel history of the first novel coronavirus case in the country. | screengrab from Rosalie O. Abatayo’s video
CEBU CITY, Philipines —The first confirmed patient of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019 n-CoV) in the country is not among the two possible cases now being monitored in Central Visayas, the regional head of the Department of Health (DOH-7) said.
Dr. Jaime Bernadas, director of DOH-7, said the confirmed coronavirus patient, a 38-year-old female Chinese tourist, has a travel history in the cities of Cebu and Dumaguete, is currently confined in a hospital in Metro Manila.
Bernadas said that the patient did not seek medical help while in Cebu or Dumaguete and is now in isolation in a hospital in Manila.
The woman from Wuhan City in China, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, arrived in the Philippines on a tourist visa on January 21, DOH officials led by Secretary Francisco Duque III revealed in a press conference earlier this afternoon, Thursday, January 30.
The DOH is now closely coordinating with DOH-7 in tracing the places where she went and the persons she came in contact with so that they could also be monitored.
Read more here: Contract tracing, probe into travel history to Cebu, Dumaguete of PH first confirmed coronavirus patient now underway – DOH
Aside from these details, Bernadas said he could not provide further information on the woman or of the two persons still being monitored in the region.
“I will hold information kay wala pay official documents og unsay whereabouts,” Bernadas said.
(I will hold [comment on] on the information because I have no official documents on the whereabouts of the patient.)
Bernadas said they would act accordingly once they had sufficient official information on the patient’s previous engagements in the region prior to being admitted.
Two persons in Central Visayas are among the 29 individuals nationwide that are being monitored due to symptoms that may be attributed to the viral disease./dbs