Chinese woman is Philippines' first case of new virus
Published on: Saturday, February 01, 2020
After health officials said that people in Metro Manila need not wear masks as protection against the Wuhan coronavirus, San Lazaro Hospital posted a notice on the gate to its compound along Quiricada Street in Santa Cruz, Manila.
MANILA: The Philippines on Thursday confirmed its first case of the new virus that has killed 170 people and sickened nearly 8,000 others in China amid persistent calls from lawmakers for restrictions on Chinese visitor traffic to the country.Health Secretary Francisco Duque III told a press briefing on Thursday afternoon that a 38-year-old Chinese woman, who arrived in the country from Wuhan, China, on Jan. 21, had tested positive for the new virus.
ADVERTISEMENT
Duque said the woman sought medical attention on Jan. 25 after experiencing a mild cough and was admitted to a government hospital, which he did not name.
He said the results of the woman’s lab test confirming infection with the new virus arrived on Thursday from Victoria Infectious Disease Reference Laboratory in Melbourne, Australia.
But the woman, he said, was not showing symptoms.
“She is currently asymptomatic, which means she has no fever, and no other signs and symptoms suggesting illness at this point,” Duque said.
ADVERTISEMENT
He said the Department of Health (DOH) was closely coordinating with the government hospital for the activation of its incident command system for infection control, case management, and containment.
“We are also implementing measures to protect the health staff providing care to this patient,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
The woman had travelled to Cebu and Dumaguete cities, where personnel from the Bureau of Quarantine and the regional office of the Center for Health Development in Western Visayas had been deployed to track down the people she had encountered, said Dr. Ferchito Avelino, head of the DOH Epidemiology Bureau. Avelino said the passengers seated nearest to the patient on the flight that took her to the Philippines on Jan. 21 would also be tracked down.
He did not say where the woman had stayed before seeking medical help, but said the employees of that establishment who had been in contact with her would also be observed in quarantine for signs of infection.
He did not say where the woman had stayed before seeking medical help, but said the employees of that establishment who had been in contact with her would also be observed in quarantine for signs of infection.
Assistant Foreign Secretary for Asia and Pacific Affairs Meynardo Montealegre and Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Neil Frank Ferrer met with Chinese Consul General Lou Gang on Wednesday and opened talks about the repatriation.
The new virus, belonging to the coronavirus family, is officially called 2019-nCoV and believed to have emerged from an illegal market for wildlife in Wuhan, capital of the central Chinese province of Hubei, in December.
It is similar to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus that killed nearly 800 people in China and sickened thousands in an epidemic in 2002-2003.
During the news briefing on Thursday, Duque said the DOH was observing 29 patients for possible infection with the new virus. Of those patients, he said, 18 are in Metro Manila, four in Central Visayas, three in Western Visayas, and one each in Mimaropa, Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao and Davao.
He said five of the patients had been discharged, but remained under “strict monitoring.”
Duque assured the public that the DOH was “on top of this evolving situation.” The agency, he said, “continues to guarantee the public that all necessary precautionary measures are being taken to halt the spread of the virus.”
He said the DOH-led Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases would hold a high-level meeting on Friday for discussion of the first case and possible developments from it.
Duque said it was up to the task force to decide whether to expand travel restrictions beyond Hubei. The government has already halted issuing visas on arrival to Chinese coming from Hubei, and temporarily stopped flights to Philippine cities from that Chinese province.
Duque said a decision would depend on whether the World Health Organization (WHO) would declare the outbreak a global emergency.
Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, head of the Senate health committee, on Thursday said he would recommend temporary restrictions on tourist traffic from Hubei, and study if the restrictions should be expanded to include other parts of China.
Go said President Duterte had not decided whether to ban visitor traffic from China because China was not the only country with reported cases of the new virus.
“It will not be proper if we will single out China,” Go said.
Duterte told reporters on Wednesday that he was not inclined to order a ban on tourist traffic from China because it would “not be fair.”
But after Duque reported the country’s first case of the virus, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said it was time the Philippines banned all visitor traffic from China.
“I urge the government to immediately impose a travel ban on all individuals traveling from China, and all travelers who have passed through China in the past two weeks,” Hontiveros said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
