Chinese medical team to observe COVID-19 hospitals, quarantine facilities in PH

MANILA, Philippines — The team of Chinese medical experts that recently arrived in the country will go around health care facilities catering to COVID-19 patients.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Monday said the Chinese specialists will visit COVID-19 referral hospitals, including the Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City, as well as San Lazaro Hospital and Philippine General Hospital in the city of Manila.

Also, Vergeire said the Chinese visitors will go to community quarantine facilities put up by the government to house COVID-19 positive persons with mild symptoms or who are asymptomatic, as well as persons under investigation (PUIs) and monitoring (PUMs) for disease infection.

“All of these titingnan nila at magbibigay sila ng mga rekomendasyon sa atin base naman sa kanilang naranasan noong kanilang pinapatupad ang stringent measures nila doon sa kanilang bansa,” Vergeire said during a virtual press briefing.

(They will observe on all of these and give their recommendations to us based on what they have experienced before when they were enforcing stringent measures in their country.)

Their recommendations could be used in crafting the Philippines’ policies in addressing the pandemic, she added.

The 12-member Chinese medical team is expected to stay in the Philippines until April 19.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said the Chinese medical experts will not practice medicine or treat COVID-19 patients in the country but would only give their “expert advice” from their Wuhan lockdown experience and clinical management of patients.

The Chinese government had placed its transport hub Wuhan City in Hubei province on lockdown in January in a bid to control the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, which epidemic started in the Chinese city in late 2019.

After two months, restrictions in Wuhan were eased after Chinese health officials declared they had not recorded any new local case of COVID-19 in the city.

As of April 6, China has 82,665 confirmed cases of COVID-19, ranking sixth globally, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus board.

A total of 77,310 COVID-19 patients in China were also recorded to have recovered from the disease, the highest number among the 183 virus-hit countries. Meanwhile, 3,212 deaths from the respiratory illness were recorded in Hubei, China.

In the Philippines, 3,660 individuals have so far tested positive for COVID-19 as of Monday afternoon. Of the total, 163 have already died while 73 were able to recover.

Earlier, the Chinese government donated test kits, surgical masks, and other medical equipment to the Philippines.

KGA