Duterte’s foreign trips canceled due to coronavirus pandemic

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte’s foreign trips have been suspended due to the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the Presidential Security Group (PSG) said Thursday.

The PSG said the suspension of Duterte’s foreign travels was recommended by the Department of Health (DOH).

“For now, all PRRD’s foreign travels, especially to those countries with confirmed cases of COVID-19, have been suspended as recommended by DOH,” PSG said in an advisory.

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COVID-19 disease that has swept into at least 114 countries and killed more than 4,000 people is now officially a pandemic according to the World Health Organization.

To date, the Philippines has 52 confirmed cases of COVID-19, a respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus that first emerged in China’s city of Wuhan in Hubei province in late 2019.

The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses named the novel coronavirus as SARS-CoV-2.

The virus causes mild symptoms such as fever and cough for most people but can cause serious illness such as pneumonia for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems.

To prevent infection, authorities are urging people to practice regular hand washing, cover the mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, and avoid close contact with those who show respiratory symptoms.

Quarantines and avoiding or restricting public interactions has been a primary method of trying to prevent the spread of the virus.

Philippine health officials have reported 49 cases of infections and two people, a Chinese and a Filipino, have died.

The illness causes mild to moderate symptoms in most people but can be severe in the elderly and people with other health problems.

The 74-year-old Duterte, who skipped work due to illness a number of times last year, postponed a trip to Boracay island on Thursday due to concerns over COVID-19, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said. He had planned to travel to the famed beach resort to promote domestic tourism amid a slump in arrivals of foreign tourists because of the pandemic.