MANILA, July 7 — Malacañang on Monday assured the public that the Department of Health (DOH) is prepared to handle the newest case of the Middle East Respiratory Sydrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in the country.
“The Philippines, through the Department of Health, is fully ready and capable of detecting, isolating and treating any reported case of MERS-CoV in the country,” Communication Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. said in a statement.
In a press conference Monday morning, DOH confirmed that a 36-year-old foreigner from Middle East tested positive of MERS-CoV.
“According to Health Secretary Garin, the patient remains in isolation while undergoing treatment at the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa City. She said that further test results indicate improvement in the patient’s condition,” added the Palace official.
Coloma said President Benigno S. Aquino III has instructed the DOH “to tighten surveillance and quarantine measures at ports of entry and to ensure the prompt reporting by all hospitals of patients who show symptoms of the disease for immediate isolation, treatment and contact tracing.”
A Filipina nurse who arrived from Saudi Arabia had tested positive for MERS-CoV last February but she was cleared of the virus later that month.
MERS coronavirus is a fatal disease caused by a new virus that can cause a rapid onset of severe respiratory disease in people and was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012.
MERS-CoV primarily causes fever, cough and shortness of breath. Other symptoms may include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
