Contacts of 3rd nCoV case showed no symptoms — DOH-7

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Nobody from the hotel in Bohol, where the 60-year-old 2019-nCoV positive Chinese stayed, developed symptoms of the viral disease, says the Central Visayas office of the Department of Health.

Dr. Jaime Bernadas, regional director of DOH-7, said on Thursday, February 6, 2020, that none of the hotel staff who attended to the woman developed flu-like symptoms that may be associated to the 2019 n-CoV.

The medical personnel in the hospital where the patient was admitted from January 22 to January 31, 2020, also did not manifest symptoms, Bernadas added.

The Chinese woman, who is the third confirmed 2019-nCoV case in the country, landed at the Mactan Cebu International Airport on Jan. 20 from Wuhan City, China. The patient, who was with four companions, traveled through a connecting flight from Hong Kong aboard Cebu Pacific flight 5J 241.

Read: DOH-7 still tracing persons that 60-year-old nCoV-positive Chinese encountered in Cebu, Bohol

Read: DOH: Third coronavirus positive patient traveled to Cebu and Bohol

On the same day, the patient traveled to Tagbilaran City in Bohol in a fast craft from Cebu City Pier 1.

Bernadas said they are still tracing the transit route of the patient from the airport to Cebu City.

With 17 days that elapsed since the arrival of the patient, Bernadas said the value of contact tracing is now only minimal with their objective focused on finding contacts that have developed symptoms of the infection.

Since the incubation period of the 2019-nCoV is only 14 days, Bernadas said those who had contact with the Chinese woman may have already developed symptoms, if they indeed contracted the virus.

“The report that we got yesterday is that nobody displayed any symptoms at all. We will continue to be doing information gathering and surveillance for the contacts of the patient,” Bernadas said.

Based on the information gathered by the DOH-7, the patient only stayed in the hotel during her stay in Bohol because she was no longer feeling well.

On January 22, the patient consulted a private hospital in Bohol where she was eventually confined until Jan. 31 due to the fever and colds.

Multiple samples were taken from the patient between Jan. 23 and 24. However, only the sample that was taken on Jan. 24 was sent to Australia for confirmatory testing following the laboratory’s protocol of using the latest sample.

The same sample was also sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) which only started to run the test late last week.

The results from both tests turned out negative, prompting the hospital to clear and discharge the patient on Jan. 31. Bernadas said the patient returned to China on the same day onboard an AirAsia flight.

But on Feb. 3, the RITM found that the Jan. 23 samples were positive of the 2019-nCoV.

The health department earlier explained that the Chinese woman had the virus but have already recovered by Jan. 24. /rcg