NAVAL, Biliran—Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, chair of the Senate committee on health, called on the government to further tighten its health screening now that the Philippines has its first confirmed case of novel coronavirus (nCoV).
Go said all entry points, like airports and seaports, should be well-guarded to prevent the entry of nCoV carriers.
“The virus should not spread,” he said.
The senator was in town on Thursday to distribute financial assistance to all eight towns and the provincial government of Biliran that suffered losses and displacements because of Typhoon Ursula.
Go made the recommendation on the same day that the DOH confirmed that a 38-year-old Chinese woman, who arrived in the Philippines from Wuhan, China on Jan. 21, tested positive for the nCoV. Wuhan is a city in China’s Hubei province now being considered as ground zero of nCoV infections.
Go, however, dismissed suggestions to indiscriminately ban Chinese nationals from entering the Philippines.
“China is not the only country hit by the virus. Other countries, too, have cases,” he said. “It’s hard to single China out,” he added.