300 security cameras in Dumaguete make footage search for people in contact with nCoV carriers tougher

DUMAGUETE CITY—Negros Oriental officials are reviewing security camera footage to trace the people who may have come into contact with the couple from Wuhan, China who had become the Philippines’ first confirmed novel coronavirus (nCoV) cases.

The man had died to become the first nCoV fatality outside China.

Dr. Liland Bustamante-Estacion,  chief of the integrated provincial health office, at a press conference on Monday (Feb. 3) said officials were reviewing security camera footage to trace the movement of the Chinese couple.

Estacion said officials were reviewing the footage “minute by minute.”

She said some people had also volunteered to be checked, saying they had been, at some point, near the Chinese couple.

The provincial information office issued a statement to announce that 25 persons were being monitored while five were being examined as of Monday.

The 25 people had gone on self-quarantine and “advised to refrain from having close contract with other people,” said the statement. The five others had been brought to the Negros Provincial Hospital “for isolation and proper medical care,” it added.

Two of the five in the hospital “are currently having fever,” said the statement read by a provincial government employee, Bimbo Miraflor. “The rest have occasional coughs and soar throat,” the statement said.

Fever, cough and sore throat were among the symptoms of nCoV.

Dr. Estacion said specimen had been taken from the five and sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Metro Manila for tests.

The footage review might take some time as there are more than 300 security cameras around Dumaguete City.

The couple from Wuhan, a city in Hubei province of China which is now the epicenter of nCoV, arrived in Cebu from Hong Kong via Cebu Pacific Flight 5J 241 on Jan. 21. They flew to Dumaguete aboard CebGo Flight DG 6519 on Jan. 22 and flew to Manila aboard Philippine Airlines Flight PR 2542 on Jan. 25.

The airlines have been trying to locate passengers who sat four rows in front or behind the couple on these flights.

While in Dumaguete, the couple checked in at a hotel and a resort in the town of Dauin.

The DOH on Monday also announced three persons were being examined in the province of Negros Oriental for nCoV.

Edited by TSB