DOH-7: More patients under investigation for nCoV in Central Visayas

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) has confirmed that there are additional patients under investigation (PUIs) in the region.

Dr. Jaime Bernadas, DOH-7 director, said they had just validated reports from the Bohol Provincial Health Office that five more individuals had been admitted in the province hospitals, who had been in contact with a patient positive of 2019 novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease (2019-nCoV ARD) and were showing symptoms of the disease.

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

However, there has been a “backlog” on the official figures released by the DOH Central office because of the vetting process and double checking of several criteria in verifying all information from the provincial and regional levels.

On their 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) case tracker dated February 7, the DOH stated that there are 16 PUIs in Central Visayas.

But this did not include the five PUIs from Bohol.

Bernadas, in a follow-up press conference a few hours after the data were published, clarified that the additional information coming from their end did not make the DOH Central Office’s cutoff. 

DOH-7 received reports from health authorities in Bohol on Thursday, February 6, around noon — or five hours before the central office’s 5 p.m. deadline, he said. 

Read more: Pinoy nurse, Chinese female among 4 PUIs in Bohol

Bernadas added that validating information pertaining to the 2019-nCoV had a process. 

“All information should be verified before it will be sent to the central office,” he said. 

This included double checking if the reported patient had met all qualifications of the case definition of PUI. 

“In some instances, we can encounter discrepancies and conflicts in data. These have to be validated and corrected otherwise the DOH will not accept it,” Bernadas said.

The DOH-7 said they already sent their updated data to their central office, and that the updated official figures might be released tomorrow, Saturday (February 8).

Read more: Five Lapu-Lapu City residents under home quarantine closely monitored

Meanwhile, Bernadas also stressed that PUIs and patients under monitoring (PUM) were two different things. 

Both PUIs and PUMs, based on DOH’s case definition, are persons who have been in contact with patients positive of 2019-nCoV, and have travel history to China. The difference between the two classifications is that PUIs show symptoms indicating the disease while PUMs are asymptomatic. 

Bernadas said that there were now 36 PUMs in Central Visayas — 3 were in Cebu province, 1 in Bohol, 2 in Negros Oriental, 15 in Cebu City, 11 in Mandaue City, and 4 in Lapu-Lapu City./dbs