Over 300 people under probe for possible nCoV infection —DOH

The number of persons under investigation (PUI) for possible 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infection has risen to 314, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.

In a press briefing, Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo said 183 of the PUIs are Filipino, 99 are Chinese, while the rest are of different nationalities.

“Mas marami na talaga ‘yung Filipinos kasi nga sila ‘yung mga nakasabay sa eroplano, sasakyan, sa hotel, at sa hospital no’ng na-admit,” he explained.

Out of the 314 PUIs, 109 have tested negative for 2019-nCoV, 202 are still pending confirmation from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, while three have tested positive as earlier reported.

Domingo said the turnaround time for confirmatory tests is 48 hours.

Metro Manila still has the highest number of PUIs at 105.

The Philippines’ three confirmed cases are two Chinese women with a history of travel to the outbreak’s epicenter of Wuhan, China, and a 44-year-old Chinese man who earlier became the first 2019-nCoV fatality outside of China.

The country's first confirmed 2019-nCoV case, a 38-year-old Chinese national, was discharged from the hospital over the weekend after testing negative for the virus twice.

The Philippines’ first death related to the virus was a 29-year-old Chinese man under investigation at the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila.

The 2019-nCoV has so far claimed over 900 lives worldwide and infected over 40,000 others. —LDF, GMA News