A person under investigation for the 2019 novel coronavirus (nCoV) from La Castellana was brought at the Teresita Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City. Negros Occidental provincial administrator, Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, revealed the patient yesterday requested to be transported from their home to the hospital.
“The patient has [the] flu-like symptoms of nCoV, including sore throat, and stayed in Hong Kong for nine hours,” the provincial official explained. “The symptoms manifested after he arrived in the country.”
Diaz revealed the hospital has two quarantine rooms.
Additionally, he said four nurses from the Calatrava District Hospital are going to be transferred to the provincial hospital and will be assigned to the isolation rooms.
“The province is now on heightened alert because of the possible increase of ‘persons under investigation,’” the provincial administrator explained. “We are taking precautionary measures.”
He added, hospitals in Kabankalan City, Valladolid, and Cadiz City are being prepared to admit possible nCoV cases.
Meanwhile, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson signed Executive Order No. 20-09, Series of 2020, which creates a provincial nCoV task force. The governor will chair the group, which will respond to growing concerns surrounding the virus.
The order also contains preventive measures and an action plan to monitor and contain nCoV./DGB, WDJ