PH to use ‘state police power’ to enforce quarantine–Duque

Passengers wear masks as they arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on  Jan. 23, 2020. (AP)

MANILA, Philippines—Philippine authorities will “invoke state police power” if people who have flu-like symptoms will refuse to undergo a mandatory quarantine, the Department of Health said Saturday.

The remark of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III  came as nine patients under investigation (PUI) declined to be placed in a health facility for isolation.

“Ang ating kautusan sa ating PNP-CIDG through the epidemiology bureau is that we must invoke the police power of the state because this is for public health and safety interest,” Duque told radio station DZBB when asked what will be done to patients who do not want to undergo a 14-day quarantine.

(Our order to the PNP-CIDG, through the epidemiology bureau, is that we must invoke police power of the state because this is for the public health and safety interest.)

Duque was referring to the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation Group.

The Philippines has reported 215 PUIs, of which 184 are being quarantined in various hospitals in a bid to curb the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus that has infected more than 34,800 people in China and 26 other countries.

As of Saturday, fatalities in China rose to 722 as its total accumulated number of infections stood at 34,546.

In the Philippines, there have been three confirmed cases of the 2019 nCoV, all of them infecting Chinese nationals from Wuhan City, the epicenter of the virus outbreak.

Filipinos in China with flu-like symptoms will not be evacuated–officials