The local government unit (LGU) of Malay in Aklan belied reports that there are an estimated 2,000 tourists, mostly Chinese nationals, who are considered as persons under monitoring (PUMs) for suspected infection of the deadly coronavirus on Boracay Island.
Malay, based on its bulletin issued on Wednesday, Feb. 5, recorded only 429 PUMs.
“The reported 2,000 Chinese who were from China, except Wuhan is actually the number of arrivals reported by the Municipal Tourism Office from the period of January 25 to February 3, 2020. Since most of them already left the country, the Municipality of Malay is left with 429 persons to be monitored,” the bulletin read.
The Department of Health (DOH-6) said PUMs are those who had history of travel to China, Hong Kong, and Macau.
Boracay and mainland Malay remains free of the novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease (2019-nCoV ARD), which originated in Wuha, China, the LGU stressed.
During the pre-disaster assessment meeting called by the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management’s (RDRRMC) on Tuesday, February 4, Catherine Fulgencio, head of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) of Malay, disclosed that they have been monitoring 2,000 tourists on the world-famous island.
The PUMs, according to Fulgencio, are staying in different hotels.
At present, there are 14 suspected 2019-nCoV ARD cases in the whole Western Visayas region.
Of the persons under investigation (PUIs), nine are confined in various hospitals while five have been discharged.
The five discharged patients tested negative for the coronavirus.
PUIs are those who have fever or respiratory infection and travel history to China within the last fourteen days or history of exposure to confirmed 2019 nCoV cases, the DOH-6 said.IMT
