MANILA, Philippines — The 44-year-old Chinese national who died February 1 in Manila due to severe pneumonia caused by the 2019 novel-coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is scheduled to be cremated on Wednesday, Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque said.
“Pumayag na yung isang funeral parlor dyan sa may Araneta Avenue,” Duque said Wednesday in an interview on dzMM.
(A funeral parlor along Araneta Avenue already agreed [to cremate the Chinese national])
Duque said the DOH has contacted the Chinese national’s family and got consent to cremate the body.
The Chinese national is the first recorded nCoV-related death outside China.
“Sinabihan naman ako na pumayag yung pamilya i-cremate na. Ang importante na lang dapat ngayong araw na ito, ma-cremate na,” Duque said.
(The family already agreed to cremate the patient. The Chinese national should be cremated today.)
A community of Chinese nationals backed out on its promise to cremate the nCoV fatality, Duque disclosed during a Senate hearing on the government’s measures on nCoV.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1223978/chinese-group-rejects-cremation-of-compatriot-who-died-from-ncov-in-ph-duque
Citing information from the World Health Organization (WHO), Duque stressed that patients who succumb to nCoV are no longer infectious.
“Ang sabi sakin ng WHO, hindi na daw infectious kapag namatay. At syempre yun din naman pagprepara don sa bangkay, nakaseal,” Duque said.
(WHO told me it won’t be infectious once the patient dies. The corpse will also be sealed.)
The 44-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan who died last Saturday was the partner of the Philippines’ first confirmed 2019-nCoV patient.
The 38-year-old Chinese woman was with him when they traveled to Cebu on January 21 then to Dumaguete on January 22 before flying back to Manila on January 25.
GSG
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