(MENAFN- The Peninsula) A Filipina nurse earlier suspect of having been infected with the deadly Mers-COV in Saudi Arabia tested negative in the Philippines.
In a televised press briefing yesterday, the Department of Health allayed fears that the dreaded Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Corona Virus (MERS-COV) had reached the Philippines.
Spokesman Dr Lyndon said the suspected carrier, a nurse, tested negative for the virus following a round of tests conducted on her by doctors at the Southern Philippines Medical Centre (SPMC) in Davao City where she was confined since September 2.
The 37-year-old nurse, whose identity is being safeguarded, was only referred to by doctors as "AP". Reports said she was allowed to return to her home in South Cotabato.
Tests were conducted days after she arrived in the Philippines from her workplace in Dammam, Saudi Arabia on August 29.
"We have suspicions all along that she would turn out negative of having Mers-COV. We have known that since Thursday based on information provided to us by medical authorities in Saudi Arabia. But, to avoid confusion, we waited for the result provided by the RITM (Research Institute for Tropical Medicine," Lee Suy said, insinuating they would rather err on the side of caution and be proven wrong rather than be confronted with a full-blown epidemic.
Earlier, it was feared that the nurse would be the Philippines' first known case of Mers. "As it turned out, all tests are negative," Lee Suy said. It was reported earlier that doctors in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, had cleared AP for travel to her home country despite suspicions that she was infected with Mers.
Medical authorities in the Philippines said that the patient was "asymptomatic" or did not show symptoms of the medical condition when she was examined in Dammam.
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