AN OFFICIAL of the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) assured the public that they are heightening measures to counter the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) should it enter the city after the number of cases escalated dramatically. SPMC Chief of Clinics and Health Emergency Management Bureau (HEMB) coordinator Dr. Ricardo Audan told SunStar Davao that SPMC, the biggest hospital in Mindanao, is ready for possible eventualities amid the increasing number of cases and death tolls spreading across other countries due to 2019-nCoV. “Ready po ang SPMC. We actually have Isolation Facility intended for emerging and re-emerging diseases,” Audan said. The SPMC facility is also designed should there be a Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-related coronavirus (Mers-CoV), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic. “The facility has a negative pressure room,” he added. Audan further said that all the staff of SPMC is all well-trained to address this global pandemic. “We have PPE or personal protective equipment, ‘yong parang astronauts ang dating. Again we are ready,” he reiterated. The Department of Health (DOH) has already given them the guidelines when to admit a patient. “Di lahat galing sa China or with fever will be admitted. The guidelines came from DOH itself. Very clear ang guidelines,” he added. To date, DOH has not reported any confirmed Chinese national who entered the country that is infected with the fatal virus which is confirmed to be transmissible through human-to-human contact. In Asia, several countries have disclosed to have positive cases of the new strain of coronavirus including the Republic of South Korea, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam, The 2019-nCoV is a new virus that originated in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. It is a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA coronavirus, a family of viruses such as SARS and Mers-CoV. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Quarantine-Davao has been intensifying its measures in monitoring passengers at the international arrival of the Davao airport considering that the city has a direct flight to China, Hong Kong, and Singapore.