RITM: Still no case of human-to-human transmission of nCoV in Philippines

There is still no case of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus in the Philippines, an official from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine said on Monday.

Director Celia Carlos of RITM made the announcement day after the Department of Health said that a 44 year-old male Chinese patient in San Lazaro hospital died of nCoV on Saturday.

The Chinese male was the companion of the 38-year-old female Chinese who was the first confirmed case of nCoV ARD in the Philippines.

“There is no community transmission. We are still in the containment stage," Carlos said.

"That is why there is a huge amount of effort being done to identify people who might transmit the disease through contact tracing, imposing quarantine if necessary, so we don’t go from containment to mitigation. We are hopeful that we will not reach that point,” she added.

Carlos said that those who traveled to China, Hong Kong and Macau in the last 14 days are requested to go on quarantine or isolate themselves, wear a face mask, and check their body temperature twice a day, and report to hospital authorities should they experience respiratory problems.

“We do not want one family member who recently arrived here to infect the rest of the family because if that happens, that person can infect two or more,"Carlos said.

Carlos said that five subnational laboratories are expected to be in place as soon as possible so that government authorities would be able to trace or conduct tests on possible infection of nCoV ARD at a faster rate.

“These have been established five years ago for influenza surveillance, but we just have to adjust to specific protocol for 2019 nCoV,” Carlos said.

Carlos said the testing for nCoV infection cost P15,000 to P20,000 each.

The Philippines has already banned travellers from China, Hong Kong and Macau from entering Philippine shores in an effort to prevent the spread of nCoV.

All airlines have also cancelled their China-bound flights as of February 2. —NB, GMA News