DOH: Third coronavirus positive patient traveled to Cebu and Bohol

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The third confirmed case of the 2019 novel coronavirus Acute Respiratory Disease (2019-nCoV ARD) in the Philippines had a travel history to Cebu and Bohol before being confined.

Department of Health Undersecretary Rolando Enrique Domingo confirmed this development in a press briefing aired live at the DOH Facebook page past 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020.

The patient, a 60-year-old Chinese woman, arrived at the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) from Wuhan City, the 2019-nCoV epicenter, on January 20, 2020, via Hong Kong.

Domingo said the patient also traveled to Bohol on the same day and stayed inside her hotel because she was not feeling well.

“On the January 22, the patient consulted a private hospital after experiencing fever and colds,” Domingo said. The Health official said the Chinese woman was admitted on the same day and “several samples were taken from her on January 23 and 24.”

The January 24 test results was sent to the Victorian Infectious Disease Reference Laboratory in Melbourne, Australia and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine of the DOH.

Both laboratory tests yielded negative results from the Jan. 24 sample.

The test result from Australia was released on Jan. 29 while the RITM result was issued Jan. 30.

But on Feb. 3 evening, Domingo said the RITM found that the Jan. 23 samples from the patient tested positive.

Domingo said this meant that the patient has already recovered when the second samples were taken on Jan. 24.

Domingo added that the DOH in Central Visayas has already started with the contact tracing of the patient yesterday, Feb. 4, while the region’s Center for Health Development is now coordinating with the hotel where the patient stayed.

The patient was discharged from the hospital and flew back to China on Jan. 31. /rcg