The City Health Office (CHO) disclosed that it has eight individuals under close watch and under home quarantine including one for suspected 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) symptoms.
CHO officer-in-charge Dr. Gene Gulanes said these persons are now undergoing home quarantine for 14 days. Two of those under quarantine are Filipinos while six are Chinese nationals. One of the six foreigners was placed under investigation for manifesting NCoV-like symptoms. He was later tested negative but still placed under home quarantine.
Gulanes said these individuals arrived from China and Thailand and have voluntarily turned themselves in to the hospital fearing they got symptoms of the virus.
He also explained that except for the one placed under investigation, all other persons under monitoring (PUM) manifested the symptoms but will not fit to the category of NCoV.
Despite this development, Gulanes assured that Davao City is still clear from 2019-nCoV.
In the regional situation, Department of Health (DOH) regional director Dr. Annabelle Yumang has confirmed that one person is under investigation for 2019-nCoV in the entire Davao Region.
Last Wednesday, DOH disclosed a total of 23 persons have been recorded under investigation for the 2019-nCoV nationwide with one case in Davao Region.
Meantime, Chinese health authorities announced Thursday that 7,711 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus had been reported in 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps by the end of Wednesday. A total of 170 people have died of the disease.
The National Health Commission said in its daily report that 1,370 patients remained in critical condition, and 12,167 people were suspected of being infected with the virus as of the end of Wednesday.
A total of 124 people had been discharged from the hospital after recovery.
Wednesday saw 1,737 new confirmed cases, including the first confirmed case in Tibet Autonomous Region, 4,148 new suspected cases, and 38 deaths — 37 in Hubei Province and one in Sichuan Province.
Also on Wednesday, 131 patients became seriously ill, and 21 people were discharged from hospital after recovery.
A total of 88,693 close contacts had been traced, the commission said, adding that among them, 2,364 were discharged from medical observation on Wednesday, with 81,947 others still under medical observation.
By the end of Wednesday, 10 confirmed cases had been reported in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, seven in Macao Special Administrative Region and eight in Taiwan. (With a report from PNA/Xinhua)
