Another Suspected MERS Case Reported in Philippines
MANILA: A 36-year-old woman, who arrived from Singapore in early February, has been quarantined and kept under observation in the southern Philippines after she showed symptoms of the Middle East respiratory syndrome-Coronavirus (Mers), media reports said.
The woman, 36, has been confined in an isolation room at the Northern Mindanao Medical Centre (NMMC) in Cagayan de Oro since February 3, Dr Peter Quiawit, NMNC’s spokesman was quoted as saying by Gulf News, adding that results of her test will be released on Saturday, the report said.
Three blue guards are watching her from a distance of 15 metres, said Quiawit, adding that authorized hospital personnel were assigned to take care of her, it added.
Family members and other people who were in contact with her were also isolated and are now undergoing monitoring and testing, Quiawit reportedly said.
She was transferred to NMMC after her initial confinement in a private hospital, said Quiawit, but did not give more details, said the news portal.
A Saudi national died in a private hospital on September 29 last year — he showed symptoms of Mers upon his arrival in the Philippines on September 26. All 93 people who had contact with him tested negative for, the health department reportedly said.
Six Filipina nurses were infected with Mers in Jeddah in late 2015, foreign affairs records showed.
The health department has always claimed the Philippines has remained Mers-free since 2012.
Hundreds were killed and thousands were infected of Mers which was first identified in Saudi Arabia in April 2012, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said, adding that Mers has been traced in camels in the Middle East; and in bats in South Korea, the news report said.
Symptoms include acute respiratory illness, cough, diarrhoea, fever, and nausea, Gulf News reported.