This file photo provided by the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases shows a colorized transmission of the MERS coronavirus that emerged in 2012. AP FILE PHOTO
The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday denied reports of an alleged case of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Cagayan de Oro (CDO).
“We have no MERS-CoV case in Cagayan de Oro and in our country. The only institution that can diagnose and isolate MERS-Cov/SARS/Avian influenza and other re-emerging infectious diseases is our National Reference Laboratory which is the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Alabang, Muntinlupa City,” DOH said in a statement.
The health department was reacting to news reports which claimed that a 36-year-old woman who arrived from Singapore was placed in isolation and monitoring at the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) in CDO supposedly after showing symptoms of MERS.
However, the DOH confirmed the presence of a “person under investigation” from Singapore “with chief complaints of coughing of blood and shortness of breath.”
“It is not true that we have a positive MERS-CoV in NMMC or in any part of the country,” the DOH clarified. RAM
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