There is no Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus in Bacolod City.

The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine yesterday afternoon disclosed that the 22-year-old male student from Busan, South Korea, quarantined at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City tested negative for MERS CoV.

This was announced by Dr. Marlon Tabligan, OIC chief of the CLMMRH medical professional staff, as social media posts and text messages circulating in Bacolod Thursday stating that the Korean tested positive for MERs caused panic in the city.

Dr. Joan Cerrada, CLMMRH Infection Control Committee chair, said the Korean student confined at the CLMMRH was, in fact, feeling better and had no more fever. Tabligan said he would be released from the hospital.

The Department of Health also denied yesterday that the Korean student quarantined in Bacolod City has tested positive for MERS CoV.

“There is no confirmed case as of this time in the Philippines,” DOH spokesman Lyndon Lee Suy said.

Tabligan and Cerrada appealed to the public not to spread such unfounded rumors.

A text message circulating said: “Good afternoon everyone. Please wear n95 mask for MERS Cov prevention. One person is positive here in CLMMRH, Bacolod City. Confirmed today. Spread the word. Keep safe everybody. – Dr. Lim, Riverside Hospital, President.”

The Dr. Pablo O. Torre Memorial Hospital (Riverside Hospital) issued a disclaimer, saying the text message was a hoax.

“People who readily believe hoax messages my cause undue panic and harm themselves, in the process,” it said.

Posts on Facebook also called on the public to wear N95 masks as a patient at CLMMRH had been tested positive for MERS CoV.

A message posted by a certain Irish Lao-Go on her Facebook page at 10:53 p.m. Wednesday said, “Good evening everyone. Please wear n95 masks for MERS CoV prevention. One person is positive here in CLMMRH, Bacolod. Confirmed today. Spread the word. Thanks.”

The sale of masks in some drugstores in Bacolod was brisk yesterday.

Tabligan and Cerrada said Lao-Go was not an employee of CLMMRH. “I do not know if it was a misguided post or there was really malicious intent,” Cerrada said.

The two doctors appealed to the public to stop the irresponsible reposting of such messages that have no basis.

They also said it was ridiculous to call on the public to wear masks.

The wearing of masks has no basis because the public did not have direct contact with the patient, Cerrada said.

Tabligan said the Korean student arrived in the Philippines on June 25, in Bacolod on June 26, developed a fever on June 28, and was admitted at the CLMMRH on June 30.

CLMMRH is prepared for suspected MERS cases and has trained healthcare personnel, he said.

“We have an isolation procedure for patients suspected of having MERS,” Cerrada said.*CPG

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