Chinese woman 1st PH case of new virus

POLICY CHANGE After health officials said earlier this week that people in Metro Manila need not wear masks as protection against the Wuhan coronavirus, San Lazaro Hospital posted a notice of policy change on the gate to its compound along Quiricada Street in Santa Cruz, Manila. The Department of Health confirmed on Thursday the Philippines’ first case of the fast-spreading virus. —RICHARD A. REYES

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.

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.

Asymptomatic

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.

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.

The woman had traveled 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.

Stay calm

Malacañang appealed for public calm and gave the assurance that the government was in control and had intensified precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

“With the first confirmed case of [the new virus], we ask the public not to panic and to remain calm as the government, especially the Department of Health, is on top of the situation,” Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said in a statement.

“We have also intensified our containment measures and the necessary precautionary measures are being taken to address this health concern,” he said.

Andanar had no comment on calls for a ban on visitor traffic from China, but said the government would enforce “necessary stringent customs, immigration and quarantine measures” to prevent the spread of the virus.

He said the government would also dedicate a hotline to assist Filipinos in China in staving off the virus while coordinating with the Chinese government for the repatriation of Filipinos there who wanted to go home to avoid falling ill.

The Department of Foreign Affairs had begun coordinating the repatriation with the Chinese Embassy in Manila.

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.

PAL flights suspended

The Chinese official, however, cautioned them that bringing home Filipinos from locked down cities in China may spread the virus, but said the same evacuation procedures applied to Americans would be used for the Filipinos.

As part of precautionary measures, Philippine Airlines said on Thursday that it would suspend services between Kalibo, in Aklan province, and Nanjing, Hangzhou and Shanghai.

Travelers who arrived on those flights and are still in the Philippines will be booked on chartered flights home, Cielo Villaluna, spokesperson for PAL, said in a statement.

Flights between Manila and Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Jinjiang, Xiamen, Hong Kong and Macau will continue, she said.

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.”

‘On top of situation’

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.

Mr. 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.

The ban would only be for 30 days, she said, and should be imposed on air and sea traffic, including cruise ships.

“This temporary travel ban will give time for our health authorities to set in place all safeguards necessary in case there are more confirmation of [cases of the new virus] from among those under [observation],” she said.

Hontiveros also called on the Bureau of Quarantine to require mandatory quarantine for all travelers arriving from China. Health centers should also watch the communities for infections, she said.

Filipinos’ safety first

Sen. Joel Villanueva also appealed to the government to impose restrictions on travel to and from China.

“With the news that the country has recorded [its] first case of the [new virus], the government must prioritize the safety and security of our people over other considerations,” Villanueva said.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan called for a ban on visitor traffic from Wuhan and other parts of China where infections had been reported.

Earlier on Thursday, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said there was a pressing need to restrict visitor traffic from parts of China with cases of the new virus.

“When China sneezes, we get pneumonia. If that is the case, then an ounce of border control is worth a ton of cure,” Recto said.

In Cebu, which had been visited by the country’s first case of the virus, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia on Thursday said she had ordered that all travelers to the province coming from China be put in quarantine for 14 days.

Garcia said the travelers would be isolated in a hospital owned by the provincial government and another run by the DOH in Cebu City. —REPORTS FROM JEROME ANING, JULIE M. AURELIO, LEILA B. SALAVERRIA, DONA Z. PAZZIBUGAN AND DALE G. ISRAEL