(Eagle News) — A Filipino worker in the United Arab Emirates has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, along with another Chinese patient, according to a report by the government-run Emirates News Agency.
Citing the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) announcement, it said that the two new confirmed nCoV-2019 cases brought the total number of nCoV cases to seven in the UAE.
The two latest nCoV positive persons were reportedly identified through “continuous periodic screening” based on the standards of the World Health Organization.
It said that the UAE Ministry of Health has announced the confirmed patients of Chinese and Filipino nationalities who are now under observation.
This is the second Filipino to test positive for the coronavirus strain outside the country. The first was a Filipino seafarer who contracted the virus while onboard the cruise ship now in Japan, the Diamond Princess, where at least cruise 64 had tested positive for nCoV-2019.
Earlier, a Filipino domestic worker who was quarantined in Hong Kong had been given a clean bill of health and is now discharged by the Hong Kong Department of Health, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The domestic worker, although healthy and asymptomatic, was put under quarantine in Hong Kong after her employer became the second victim to succumb to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Acute Respiratory Disease (2019-nCoV ARD) outside mainland China. She underwent a 14-day quarantine period.
She is now resting in her employer’s home which has been thoroughly sanitized by the Hong Kong Department of Health