DOH reports two more SARS cases; RP total now 12

Two more cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) have been reported in the Philippines, bringing the country’s number of infections to 12, including two deaths.

Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit announced the new cases on the sidelines of a two-day meeting of airport officials from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on how to prevent SARS from spreading by air travel.

Dayrit said the new cases came from Taiwan and Singapore and have already recovered from SARS symptoms. Both are Filipinos, one a 34-year-old female software technician who returned from Taiwan in the first week of May and a 63-year-old businessman who arrived from Singapore in the second week of April.

The software technician has been discharged from the hospital after her condition improved, but is still under home confinement.

The businessman is still in hospital, Dayrit said, due to non-SARS infections.

The two did not have symptoms of SARS when they first arrived in the country but had checked into hospitals upon developing symptoms, said National Epidemiology Center head Dr. Consortia Quizon.

She said both people had had "very limited contacts" of between five and 10 people before they were hospitalized.

He said the two new cases will not derail the government’s bid to be declared SARS-free by the World Health Organization on May 20.

Dayrit said that if there has been no report of a local SARS transmission by May 20, the government can apply to be stricken off the WHO’s watch list of countries with a medium level of risk for SARS. – With AFP