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Embassy: Pinay nurse with MERS showing signs of improvement
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MANILA — A Filipina nurse who contracted the deadly Middle East Coronavirus in Saudi Arabia is showing signs of improvement, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Friday.
The DFA declined to disclose the identity of the victim, but said she works at a hospital in Jeddah. She got infected two weeks ago.
“After several days of treatment in the ICU, the patient showed good improvement and was unhooked from the mechanical ventilator a few days ago and already breathing on her own,” a DFA statement said. “Laboratory test for MERS CoV virus turned positive.”
The Filipina nurse is expected to be moved out of the ICU and transferred to an isolation room in a few days, the DFA added.
Hundreds of Filipino nurses are deployed in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia, where the virus is prevalent.
Since 2013, 10 Filipinos, mostly health workers, have died from MERS in the region.
