MANILA, Philippines — Nineteen immigration officers will undergo home quarantine after boarding vessels that carried passengers who traveled to China and its special administrative regions as a preventive measure against the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente on Monday said that the officers boarded five different cruise ships that carried passengers who visited China, Hong Kong, and Macau in the last 14 days, and arrived in the country between January to February.
“The 19 immigration officers did not exhibit any symptoms of the virus, and neither did the passengers that they inspected. They were assessed by competent personnel of the Bureau of Quarantine, who were part of the boarding teams that inspect arriving ships,” Morente said in a statement.
“We are doing this as a preventive measure, to ensure that our officers are protected from the virus,” he added.
The BI commissioner told BI personnel that there is nothing to worry about this move as it only aimed at ensuring their health and safety.
Health officials advised that those suspected to have come in contact with persons infected with nCoV should undergo a 14-day quarantine.
There have been over 910 deaths due to the outbreak so far, all recorded in mainland China, where the virus broke out, except the two fatalities in the Philippines and in Hong Kong.
More than 40,000 individuals have been infected by the virus globally, mostly in China.
Three confirmed cases have been recorded in the Philippines, including the Chinese man who died on Feb. 1, his partner, a Chinese woman who is now negative of the virus based on her latest test, and another Chinese woman who had already returned to China.