The second confirmatory test for novel coronavirus (nCoV) done on the 10-year-old Brazilian girl has yielded a negative result.
Dr. Mario S. Baquilod, regional director of the Department of Health (DOH) in MIMAROPA, confirmed Friday morning that the strain found on the throat swabs sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) only showed “bacterial pictures”.
However, Baquilod clarified that no discharge order has been given yet as the RITM will still have to conduct a “more rigorous” test to identify the strain.
“The second result is the same as the first one [which is negative], however, RITM still has to do one more test to be sure. We recently received the test kits from Japan so we are capable of identifying specific strains,” he said.
The person under investigation (PUI) remains isolated at the Ospital ng Palawan (ONP) since Friday last week, after showing flu-like symptoms which were initially related to the nCoV.
Dr. Audie Cipriano, chief of the medical professional staff of the Ospital ng Palawan, said that the girl is “active and febrile” but showed a strong appetite indicated by her request for pasta instead of regular hospital food.
The Philippines has one confirmed case of nCoV and 56 PUIs.
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