HEALTH AUTHORITIES here are on alert following the discovery of a five-year-old child from Wuhan City, China who tested positive for a suspected coronavirus strain.
Dr. Jaime Bernadas, regional director of Department of Health (DOH) in Region 7 (Central Visayas), said in a video interview posted on the social media page of The Freeman his office has reviewed the protocol on handling such respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus.
The DOH-7 adopted a protocol to handle Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) cases in the past, he said.
Bernadas also said the Bureau of Quarantine in Region 7 has assigned more personnel to monitor passengers at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) through the thermal cameras.
He said the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) is now put on alert as the primary “referral hospital”.
The Eversly Child Sanitarium in Mandaue City, on the other hand, is the alternative referral center, although “all government hospitals are mandated to accommodate” patients in case the new coronavirus strain hits the locality.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III confirmed in a press conference in Manila on Monday that the DOH is now investigating the case of the child from China who was tested positive for an undetermined coronavirus.
The child, who was tested at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), however, yielded negative results of MERS-CoV and SARS strain of coronavirus, Duque said.
In a statement, the DOH said the child was brought to the hospital “for manifesting fever, throat irritation, and cough prior to entering the Philippines.”
The statement did not identify the hospital and VSMMC officials would neither deny nor confirm that the child who traveled from Wuhan is under their care.
“The case was immediately reported to the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of Central Visayas Center for Health Development and the child was endorsed for admission,” the statement said.
“The patient as of today is still experiencing cough but is currently stable and afebrile.”
The specimen which was tested positive for the non-specific pancoronavirus assay has been sent to Australia to identify the specific coronavirus strain.
The DOH also monitors three persons with flu-like symptoms who arrived from China via Kalibo International Airport, although they have no history of travel to Wuhan and without any known contact with a confirmed 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) case, Severe Acute Respiratory Illness case, or sick animals.
“Throat samples from these patients were already sent to RITM for testing. All three cases are currently well and are no longer manifesting any symptoms,” it said.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses ranging from the common cold to more serious infections such as MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, the DOH said.
The common signs of coronavirus infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In severe cases, it can cause pneumonia, acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death, it also said.
An outbreak of pneumonia cases of unknown etiology was reported in a seafood market in Wuhan, China on Dec. 31, 2019.
The strain was later determined as 2019-nCoV, a new coronavirus that has not been previously identified in humans. (By John Rey Saavedra)
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