(Eagle News)–Eight of the 74 people the Department of Health has determined as having had close contact with the two confirmed novel coronavirus cases in the country have cough and colds, the Department of Health said on Monday, Feb. 3.
According to Dr. Chito Avelino, the DOH’s epidemiology chief, the eight are included among the people who are being monitored for symptoms of the virus.
Of the updated 80 patients under investigation, the DOH said two tested positive for the virus (a 38-year-old Chinese female from Wuhan, China, who is stable; and her male companion, who died over the weekend).
Thirty tested negative while health authorities are awaiting the results of 48 others.
Health authorities on Sunday, Feb. 2, confirmed the country’s second novel coronavirus case, the Chinese companion of the country’s confirmed first case.
The 44-year-old man died on Saturday, Feb. 1, due to complications for the 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease, the novel coronavirus’ official name.