Specimen from Chinese kid in Cebu found negative of novel coronavirus

A specimen from the five-year-old Chinese child who experienced flu-like symptoms has tested negative for the novel coronavirus (nCOV), according to the Department of Health (DOH).

But the Health Department has still not released the child from quarantine as the agency waits for the test results of another sample from Australia, according to a "24 Oras" report by Ivan Mayrina.

"The patient is doing well, but we are not discharging the child. According to our protocol, if you are suspected of having of this new corona virus that we have, we only discharge the patient after testing negative [for] two consecutive tests na 24 hours in between," said Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo.

He explained that a negative result for both samples would mean that the child has already been cured of the virus.

On Tuesday, the child who arrived in Cebu from Wuhan, China, tested positive for non-specific pan coronavirus assay. This meant that the child was infected with a coronavirus.

This prompted authorities to keep the child under investigation, while sending samples to Australia to identify the specific coronavirus strain.

On Thursday afternoon, the DOH clarified that there were still no confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in humans in the country.

The DOH looks at four factors before monitoring someone who may be infected with nCOV.

These factors include:

1. traveling from Wuhan City, where the virus is said to have originated;
2. working in a Wuhan-based hospital who treated nCOV-infected patients;
3. getting in close contact with a confirmed case of nCOV; and
4. experiencing respiratory-related illness like fever, cough and throat pain. 

The novel coronavirus has become a cause for global concern since its outbreak in Wuhan, China last year.

The virus belonged to the same family as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which both killed hundreds of people in 2003 and 2012, respectively. —NB, GMA News