Duterte twits ‘idiots’ instilling fear over novel coronavirus

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday took a swipe at some quarters for supposedly instilling fear into the minds of Filipinos amid the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) scare, as he assured the public that the government is prepared to address the public health emergency.

Speaking before local chief executives, Duterte said there are some who are maliciously sounding the alarm that the virus had escalated, and questioned the government’s tact in addressing the health concern that has so far killed over 900 people globally.

“There are some kibitzers, idiots if you may na pagputok nito (when this thing blows up), they are asking ‘what is the government of the Republic of the Philippines doing? We do not see any infrastructure to meet this’,” Duterte said.

“All pessimistic. All gusto lang talaga magkaroon ng takot (All of them just wants to instill fear),” he added.

The President claimed that health and local government officials are the “infrastructure” the government will utilize when the virus spreads into the country. He likewise assured that the Philippines “can defeat” the virus as the government has enough funds at its disposal.

“The national government remains to be on top of the threat of the coronavirus. We are prepared to handle this public health emergency in case the worst scenario happens,” he said.

The Department of Health has reported three confirmed cases of the new coronavirus strain in the country. The first two cases were a Chinese couple who traveled to the country from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak.

The man died on Feb. 1, the first nCoV death outside China. The first case, that of a 38-year-old Chinese woman and partner of the fatality, has fully recovered from the virus and has already been discharged from the hospital, the DOH announced Monday.

The third case, meanwhile, was a 60-year-old Chinese woman who arrived in Cebu City from Wuhan via Hong Kong on Jan. 20.

As of Monday, Health officials are currently monitoring 314 patients for suspected nCoV infection.

Thirty Filipinos were repatriated to the Philippines from the Chinese province of Hubei, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak. They, along with two consulate staff, will be quarantined for 14 days at the New Clark City Athletes’ Village in Capas, Tarlac.