1 suspected case of nCOV in Camiguin turns out negative, say execs

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The provincial government of Camiguin announced here on Monday (Jan. 27) that a person suspected to be infected with novel coronavirus had been tested negative for the deadly disease.

The Philippine Information Agency-10 (PIA) quoted Gov. Jurdin Jesus

Romualdo as saying “the person suspected of having been infected has been found negative and is recovering from his symptoms.”

“The province instituted mandatory protocol in monitoring and safeguarding the possible introduction [of novel coronavirus] in our
territory,” Romualdo said.

Although the PIA report did not specify the person’s country of origin or how long he had been staying on the island, the governor
said the province had been checking some 106 Chinese tourists on the island, including those who came from mainland China.

Camiguin is considered as one of the prime tourism destinations in the Philippines, its tourist sites visited by thousands of local and foreign tourists all year round.

The provincial government recorded more than half a million visitors last year, peaking during major festival seasons such as the
Lanzones Festival in October and the Panaad during the Lenten Season.

Dr. Gretchen Cabalang, the provincial health officer, said in the same PIA report that the patient had been stable and would be discharged by the Camiguin General Hospital on Monday (Jan. 27).

“We would like to assure the general public that we will continue to strictly monitor the person, his traveling companions as well as any tourist arriving in the province,” Cabalang said.

The 2019 novel coronavirus, also known as 2019-nCoV, had been identified as the cause of an outbreak of a deadly respiratory disease first detected in Wuhan, a city in China’s Hubei province.

Edited by TSB