DOT details questions for guests manifesting nCoV symptoms

The Department of Tourism (DOT) urged tourism enterprises, especially accommodation establishments, to protect tourists from getting infected with the novel coronavirus (nCoV) by screening checked-in guests with symptoms.

In a press release on Saturday evening, the Tourism Department advised the accommodation sector to ask checked-in guests manifesting symptoms these three questions:

1. Have you recently (14 days) travelled to China or a country or place on the WHO list with local transmission or outbreak of 2019-nCoV?
2. Have you had recent contact with a person with a confirmed or suspected case of 2019-nCov?; and
3. Do you have such symptoms as a fever greater than 38 degrees Celsius and flu-like symptoms such as cough, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath?

If the guest answers yes to any of the questions, the guest must be considered as someone with "probable nCoV". Should this happen, the guest must be brought to the nearest local health worker or government hospital for monitoring.

Should the guest answer no to all of the questions, the traveler will be considered negative for nCoV. However, the person must be referred to a doctor to address whatever other symptoms the guest is experiencing.

The DOT also recommended stringent sanitation measures, frequent handwashing, proper cough etiquette, and the use of alcohol or hand sanitizer.

The first nCoV case was confirmed in the country on Thursday afternoon.

As of Saturday, the number of confirmed deaths from nCOV rose to 258 in China, with more than 10,000 people infected globally. — Angelica Y. Yang/DVM, GMA News