Lagman pushes for China-wide travel ban amid 2019-nCoV ARD outbreak

MANILA, Philippines — An opposition congressman on Saturday pushed for a China-wide travel ban, to include Hong Kong as the novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease or 2019-nCoV ARD outbreak rages across China and in other countries.

“What is imperative is to ban flights to and from the entire Chinese mainland, including Hong Kong,”  Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman said in a statement.

Lagman issued the statement after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered an indefinite travel ban on Chinese nationals coming from the Hubei Province in China. Hubei’s capital, Wuhan City was later identified as the epicenter of the outbreak.

The lawmaker also asked local airlines Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific to cancel all flights to and from mainland China and Hong Kong.

“They should stop servicing selective Chinese destinations and put on hold the current policy of merely reducing flight frequency,” he said.

Lagman also appealed that the travel restriction also be imposed on Chinese nationals and tourists from China who will arrive in the Philippines “in cruise ships and other vessels.”

The Department of Health (DOH) previously announced that there are 56 “nCoV-related health events” in the Philippines.

It also reported that a 38-year-old Chinese tourist from Wuhan is the first confirmed case of 2019-nCoV ARD in the Philippines. The patient is now in isolation at the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila, the DOH added.