Filipinos on virus-hit ship repatriated on Sunday
Credit to Author: John Eric Mendoza| Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2020 16:18:20 +0000
THE Filipino passengers and crew aboard the coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess would be repatriated on Sunday as the number of infected Filipinos rose to 52 from 44, the Department of Health (DoH) said on Friday.
Health Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire in a press briefing in Manila said there are about 480 Filipinos aboard the ship.
The Diamond Princess, which is docked in a Japan port, has the most number of infected people outside China with 634 confirmed cases.
Among 3,200 people aboard the ship are 558 Filipinos, mostly crewmembers.
The Filipinos with symptoms of the coronavirus disease 2019 or Covid-19 will not be included in the repatriation.
The repatriates will be quarantined at the New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac.
“[The] Bases Conversion Development Authority has graciously agreed to once again lend their facilities for the quarantine. They will allow us to use other buildings in the [New Clark City] to accommodate the number of repatriates and have committed to augment the number of personnel who will support operations,” said Vergeire.
The protocols for bringing home Filipinos from Wuhan City in China will be applied to Filipinos from the Diamond Princess; meaning, they have to be isolated for 14 days upon arrival.
There are 16 hospitals that will serve any repatriates with symptoms of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-like disease.
The DoH will shoulder the costs of the medical needs and hospitalization expenses as well as their transportation.
The Department of Transportation will pay for the transportation of the Filipinos from Haribon Airport to New Clark City.
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration will also provide livelihood packages to the repatriated Filipinos after the quarantine period as well as their transportation expenses upon returning to their respective destination.
Last Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. met with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Vientiane, Laos on the eve of the Special Asean-China Foreign Ministers Meeting on responding to the Covid-19 epidemic.
Locsin extended the Philippines’ sympathies to the Chinese people, especially to those in Wuhan in Hubei Province.
He conveyed the government’s appreciation for the assistance and facilitation of the Chinese government in the repatriation of Filipinos from Hubei on February 8.
Wang also expressed appreciation to the Philippines, as the country coordinator for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-China relations, for facilitating the foreign ministers’ meeting.
A similar meeting was held in 2003 during the outbreak of SARS, which recorded a global death toll of 774.
Still on the Covid-19 outbreak, the Department of Education (DepEd) on Friday said it was monitoring three students as patients under investigation.
One of them, a Grade 7 student from Lasam, Cagayan, is on home quarantine.
The other two are elementary students, DepEd said.
Results of tests on the three on February 17 turned out negative,” the Education department said, noting that their exposure was from their mothers who arrived from Macau in China.
DepEd also bared that two students in from Cebu province with upper respiratory tract infection were being “closely monitored” by rural health units since February 12.
The two were exposed to their fathers, who had traveled recently to a coronavirus-affected area.
WITH JAVIER JOE ISMAEL AND JAN ARCILLA