CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) confirmed that the contact tracing of the first two confirmed cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), who traveled to Dumaguete City via Cebu, is already complete.
DOH announced this at a press briefing Monday, February 10.
A total of 441 contacts were collected by the state’s health bureau. However, they did not further specify this development. These are the people who have been in contact with the Chinese couple from Wuhan City in Hubei, the epicenter of the outbreak, who became the country’s first confirmed cases.
DOH Undersecretary Rolando Domingo said the 38-year-old female patient was already discharged after further tests showed she has recovered from 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease (2019-nCoV ARD).
DOH also said 224 contacts for the third patient positive of the new coronavirus have been traced.
The patient, a 60-year-old female Chinese tourist also from Wuhan City, arrived in the Philippines on January 20 via Cebu also. She traveled to Tagbilaran City in Bohol onboard a fast craft.
Meanwhile, DOH said there are 261 patients under investigation (PUIs) as of February 10, 2020. Most of the cases are from the National Capital Region (NCR).
They also disclosed that Central Visayas is among the regions with the most number of PUIs, considering all three confirmed cases have traveled to this region. /rcg