Passengers walk past a thermal scanner at the medical quarantine area at the arrival section of Manila’s International Airport in Paranaque, south of Manila, Philippines. AP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) announced Friday that the Filipina nurse who initially tested positive for the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome – Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) when she left Saudi Arabia is not infected.
“As of now, the Philippines remains to be MERS-CoV-free,” Dr. Lyndon Lee-Suy, DOH Emerging Infectious Diseases program manager, said in a televised press briefing.
Lee Suy said the nurse will be discharged from the Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City Friday afternoon. She has been confined there for confirmatory tests, the results of which turned out negative.
The nurse arrived in the country last August 29 through Saudi Airlines Flight SV870 from Dammam.
She took a screening test for MERS-CoV before leaving the Middle East but did not wait for the results.
After arriving in the country, she boarded a Cebu Pacific flight SJ997 to General Santos.
The DOH said it will also discontinue the contact-tracing of co-passengers of the Filipina nurse since there is no longer a threat of transfusion.
RELATED STORIES
DOH: Nurse from Saudi returns to PH positive with MERS-CoV
Filipinos in Saudi told: get tested for MERS-CoV before returning to PH