Philippines probing its first potential case of SARS-like virus: Report

The health authorities in the Philippines are reportedly inquiring its potential first case of the SARS-like virus or coronavirus that has already infected hundreds in China. According to international media reports, a five-year-old child recently arrived in the Philippines from the central Chinese city of Wuhan and has been hospitalised since with flu symptoms. However, the authorities are still not sure whether it is the same one that has reportedly killed four people in China and sickened people in three other Asian countries. 

Philippine health secretary Francisco Duque at a press briefing said, “The child is considered a person under investigation. Samples from the child were sent to a lab in Australia for further testing and authorities are awaiting the results”. 

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The health department further said that the child was already showing symptoms like fever, throat irritation and cough before arriving in the central of Cebu with parents. Three other travellers from China were also checked by authorities at another airport, however, they did not show any symptoms of the virus. The World Health Organisation has also issued a warning about the virus from Wuhan. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has further also announced on January 20 that it will assemble an emergency committee on the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) discovered in China under the International Health Regulations. The meeting will be headed by Director-General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and the members will meet on January 22 to decide whether the outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, along with discussing the recommendations to manage the spread of the virus. 

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The mystery strain

It was WHO which confirmed the first case of a novel coronavirus outside China, which has the same family as the deadly SARS virus. The UN health agency had said that the person travelling from Wuhan, China was hospitalised in Thailand and is recovering from the illness. According to the organisation, novel coronavirus is a new strain in the large family of coronaviruses (CoV) which was not identified in humans before.

CoV can cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). CoV is zoonotic which means such viruses transmit between animals and humans.

(With PTI inputs)

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