DOH says spread of novel corona virus from China inevitable

January 23, 2020

  The Department of Health (DOH) admitted Thursday the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is set to spread outside Wuhan, China.

Speaking to reporters, Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo said like the World Health Organization (WHO), the DOH is convinced the 2019-nCoV will reach different countries.

"I think the WHO position right now is that the virus is really going to spread," said Domingo. 

"It has already gone to several countries so that idea of international spread is no longer theoretical. We have already documented cases in Thailand, Korea, Japan, US. And we have a case waiting for confirmation here in our country," Domingo added. 

Domingo said international and local health bodies are more focused on establishing systems to ensure cases will be properly managed.

"The strategy now of the WHO is really to make sure that when it does spread and when it happens, we're able to isolate and contain the cases and manage them well," he said.

''So far, we believe that it is less deadly and less contagious than two other types of coronavirus, which are MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV," he explained. DMS