CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/01 February) – Several teams are on standby here waiting for call of assistance from the Department of Health in Region 7 to help trace persons who might have been in contact with the 38-year-old Chinese student, the first confirmed case of the 2019 novel coronavirus (nCoV) in the country.
City Health Officer Dr. Lorraine Nery said the teams would be activated as soon as DOH 7 ask them for assistance.
“We have already set protocols and guidelines with the DOH on how to handle contact tracing if they came over to our city,” Nery said.
The DOH has engaged in tracing the persons who possibly came in close contact with the Chinese patient.
The Philippine Air Lines on Friday said it had placed an entire crew of two pilots and four cabin attendants of its Manila to Dumaguete flight under quarantine.
In a statement, PAL said they are also contacting the passengers seated near the patient, who is now confined at the San Lazaro Manila in Metro Manila.
A day after DOH confirmed the first case of novel coronavirus in the country panicky residents flocked to drugstores nationwide to buy facemasks.
But most drugstores have posted signs that they have run out of supply of the item.
At the Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental, most passengers coming from Manila and Cebu could be seen wearing facemasks at the arrival area.
Teams from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Region 10 began distributing facemasks at the bus terminals in Barangay Bulua and Agora today Friday. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)
