(Eagle News) — The Department of Health on Wednesday, Jan. 29, said there was still no confirmed case of the novel coronavirus in the country, noting that four of the 27 people the agency had said were closely being monitored had already been discharged.
Of the 23 persons now under investigation, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said 17 were in the National Capital Region, one in Western Visayas, one in Mimaropa, one in Eastern Visayas, two in Central Visayas and one in Davao.
He said pending results at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine were 18.
Confirmatory tests pending at an Australia laboratory were six.
According to Duque, the DOH has updated the interim guidelines on preparedness and response to the 2019-nCoV, the official name of the virus.
He said DOH facilities were instructed to use the guidelines, while private facilities were urged to do the same.
He said the government was monitoring visitors from Hubei province, not just Wuhan, where the virus was said to have been first identified in December 2019.
