Philippine health authorities on February 10 announced that the country’s first patient infected with the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was discharged from the hospital.

Emergency medical responders in Cebu, the Philippines practice responding to a possible nCoV outbreak (Photo: www.rappler.com)

Speaking at a press conference, Philippine Deputy Health Secretary Eric Domingo said the patient was tested negative for the virus twice and left the hospital on February 8.

She was a 38-year-old Chinese national who came from China’s Wuhan, the epicentre of the nCoV outbreak. She travelled to Hong Kong before arriving at the Philippines on February 21 and was admitted to the hospital four days later.

Her travelling companion, a man in his 40s, also was infected with the virus and passed away on February 1.

As of February 10, the Philippines confirmed three nCoV cases. The third case was a Chinese woman, aged 60, who just returned home. More than 300 people are under monitoring.

The same day, Singapore confirmed two more nCoV cases, bringing the total number in the country to 45, of which seven recovered and seven others were in critical conditions.

The country has identified 1,026 close contacts of a previously confirmed case. Of the 927 who are still in Singapore, 896 have been contacted and are being quarantined or isolated while the remaining 31 are still unreachable.

Meanwhile, scientists of Singapore’s Health Ministry are working with international colleagues to develop vaccine against the virus.

(Source: VNA)