For MERS-COV test in Negros Occ Five OFWs under quarantine

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Five Negrense overseas Filipino workers are now under quarantine at government hospitals in this city and Negros Occidental province for observation and testing of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV),

Negros Occidental health official Ernell Tumimbang said two of the five were already found negative of the disease, citing the information relayed to him verbally by Department of Health-6 regional director Marlyn Convocar.

According to Tumimbang, they have yet to get the results of the swab testing from the other three patients from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Manila. He said that they will know the results within 24 to 48 hours.

He said these five Negrenses were on the same flight as that of the OFW from the United Arab Emirates, who was initially suspected of MERS-CoV, and arrived in the country last Wednesday.

Tumimbang said four of them were put on isolation at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City while the fifth one was under quarantine at the Cadiz District Hospital, also in Negros Occidental.

While Tumimbang refused to disclose the identity of the patients, he said three of the five patients were from Bacolod City: a male engineer, a female manager and a male seafarer. A fourth one was a male technician from Talisay City, while the fifth one was a female domestic helper from Toboso town, also of Negros Occidental.

Tumimban said the incubation period of MERS-CoV is 14 days, and that this is a communicable disease, which may be passed on to others through exposure or close contact with a positive carrier. The health official then advised the public to observe frequent handwashing.

Glen Alonsabe, head of the DOH-6 Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit, meanwhile assured the public that the DOH-6 has been closely monitoring of any suspected cases. “We’re doing everything we can,” he said.

Alonsabe however reminded the public neither to worry nor to be alarmed, as he pointed out that the quarantine was only one of the precautionary efforts of the DOH-6 to prevent the spread of MERS-CoV.