Test in Australia clears Chinese boy in Cebu of nCoV infection

The confirmatory test in Australia has cleared the five-year Chinese boy being monitored in Cebu of novel coronavirus infection.

According to a report on State of the Nation Address with Jessica Soho, the results came in from the Victorian Infectious Disease Reference Laboratory in Melbourne.

The country remains free of nCoV infection.

"This is indeed very welcome news to ease the Filipinos' growing concern. We will continue to monitor the developing situation and ensure mechanisms to contain the threat of 2019-nCoV," Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said. 

The child arrived in Cebu on Tuesday from Wuhan, China.

He tested positive for a coronavirus assay and was immediately admitted to a hospital in Cebu.

The DOH on Thursday said he tested negative for the 2019 nCoV but was not released from quarantine as he needed to be cleared twice.

"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 coronavirus that we have, we only discharge the patient after testing negative [for] two consecutive tests na 24 hours in between," Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo said on Thursday.

The DOH has advised individuals who had come from Wuhan and who were experiencing symptoms of fever and cough to undergo a medical examination. —Joahna Lei Casilao/NB, GMA News