Social media report on Korean with MERS turns out to be rumor

BACOLOD CITY—The rumor that social media spread about this city having the country’s first Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) case turned out to be nothing but that—a rumor.

The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine found a 22-year-old Korean who had been suspected of having MERS to be negative of the disease, according to Dr. Marlon Tabligan, officer in charge of the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) in this city.

“There is no confirmed case as of this time in the Philippines,” said Department of Health spokesperson Lyndon Lee Suy on Thursday.

Tabligan and Joan Cerrada, CLMMRH Infection Control Committee chair, appealed to the public not to spread rumors, which are common and prevalent in social media.

Social media posts and text messages circulated in Bacolod on Thursday saying that the Korean tested positive for MERS.

Posts on Facebook also called on the public to wear masks as a patient at CLMMRH had been tested positive of the disease. The false reports sowed panic in the city.

Cerrada said the Korean student confined at the CLMMRH is now showing signs of improved health.

Dr. Carmela Gensoli, city health office officer in charge, said the Korean arrived in the Philippines on June 25 and in Bacolod on June 26 and developed fever, cough and a sore throat on June 29.

The student was confined at a private hospital and transferred to the CLMMRH on Tuesday, she said.