MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will
be waiting for further research on the effectivity of a cocktail of anti-
virals that supposedly cured a Chinese woman infected with the novel coronavirus (2019-
nCoV) in Thailand.
A 71-year-old patient tested negative for the deadly virus 48 hours after Thai doctors gave her a mixture of medicines used to treat flu and HIV.
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Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the treatment in Thailand lacks
scientific basis and noted that the "drug cocktail"
was only applied to mild novel coronavirus cases.
"We need further advisories because it will be difficult if something bad happens
due to the medicine, it will be our liability, the situation will be more complicated," Duque told radio
dzMM in Filipino.
Duque added that the DOH will
be willing to use the so-called drug cocktail if proven effective.
"It will be better if we wait. If there is proof that the cocktail is
really effective, why will we refrain from using it?" the
Heatlth chief added.
According to Thailand's health ministry, the doctors combined anti-flu drug
drug oseltamivir with
lopinavir and ritonavir, anti-
virals used to treat HIV to the patient.
Thailand has 19 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, the second highest number of cases outside of China, next to Japan with 20.
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First death outside China
The Philippines confirmed the first recorded death from the virus outside China over the weekend.
The patient was a 44-year-old Chinese man, a companion of the
38-year old woman, who was the first confirmed carrier of the virus in the Philippines.
The man passed away on February 1, days after being admitted for fever, cough and sore throat. According to the DOH, the man was in
stale condition in his last few days before his sickness worsened within 24 hours.
The DOH is monitoring 80 patients suspected of having the virus, 67 of which
are confined and isolated in various hospitals in the country while 10 have
benn discharged but under strict monitoring.