By Jigger J. Jerusalem
Corresppondent
THE provincial government of Camiguin has announced Monday that a person suspected of having been infected with the novel coronavirus has tested negative.
The Philippine Information Agency-10 (PIA-10) quoted Camiguin Governor Jurdin Jesus Romualdo as saying “the person suspected of having being infected has been found negative and is recovering from his symptoms.”
“The province has instituted mandatory protocols in monitoring and safeguarding the possible introduction [of novel coronavirus] in our territory,” Romualdo said.
Although the PIA-10 report did not specify the person’s country of origin or how long he has been staying in the island, the governor said that there are around 106 Chinese tourists on the island and that they are checking on them one by one, including those who came from mainland China.
Camiguin is considered as the one of prime tourist destinations in the Philippines with thousands of local and foreign tourists visiting the province’s attractions and sites all year round.
The provincial government has recorded more than half a million visitors last year, with peaks during major activities such as the Lanzones Festival held in October and the Panaad during the Lenten Season.
In the same PIA-10 report, Dr. Gretchen Cabalang, the provincial health officer, said the patient “is stable and is scheduled to be discharged today from Camiguin General Hospital.”
“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, is a virus identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China.
