BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental (UPDATE) - A foreign national quarantined at Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) in this city tested negative of the new coronavirus, the hospital chief said Wednesday.

The 43-year-old male patient will be released from the hospital Wednesday after confirmatory test results from the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City showed he was cleared of the strain, said CLMMRH chief Dr. Julius Drilon.

The foreigner was quarantined due to his history of travel in Taiwan, where positive cases of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus acute respiratory disease (2019-nCoV ARD) were recorded, said Dr. Jane Juanico of the Department of Health (DOH) Western Visayas.

"The patient can be discharged as soon as he is able and his specialists have issued the necessary clearance,” she added.

The CLMMRH is still monitoring 2 patient under investigation (PUIs) confined at the emerging infection disease facility while waiting for laboratory results from RITM.

"CLMMRH is assuring the public that the hospital is implementing strict infection control measures and protocols in providing treatment to these patients," Drilon said in a statement.

Amid growing concern of the possible spread of the virus, the DOH-Western Visayas urged the public to remain calm and vigilant.

“The strengthened surveillance against 2019-nCoV ARD should not cause paranoia. We encourage the public to remain vigilant. We do not want to discriminate. It does not mean that when someone has visited a place where a positive case of nCoV has been recorded, he is already infected," said Juanico, head of DOH-Western Visayas' infectious disease section.

As of Wednesday, Feb. 5, the DOH-Western Visayas has recorded 9 PUIs in the region.

Aklan has the most number of recorded PUIs at 6. Two PUIs were recorded in IloIlo and 1 in Negros Occidental.

Juanico said 7 of the 9 PUIs had been discharged from hospitals.