The five-year-old Chinese boy who was first reported positive for non-specific coronavirus has tested negative after the results of his second swab testing was out.
This is the latest development shared by health officials of the Department of Health Center for Health Development in Central Visayas on Thursday morning.
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In a press briefing this morning, Dr. Van Philip Baton, Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases Program Coordinator, said they are yet to wait for the results of the third sample sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and the first sample that was sent to Australia before they can decide to discharge the child.
He explained that they needed to have two negative results from the surveillance testing of the child before they can allow him and his mother to leave the hospital facility where he is confined.
Baton, however, clarified that there is no confirmed case of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (nCoV) in Central Visayas.
“The boy is currently stable with no fever, cough and other signs and symptoms associated with the 2019 nCoV,” he told reporters.
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The Chinese boy’s case was first reported after he was brought by his mother to a private hospital to seek medical check-up. According to Baton, the thermal scanners did not detect the boy’s condition since he wasn’t manifesting fever at the time of their arrival last Jan. 12.
Meanwhile, public hospitals that are managed by the health agency are now under code white alert since Jan. 21. This means that they are on heightened surveillance and their hospital staff is ready to respond to this type of health matter.
