Repatriation of Filipinos on virus-hit ship reset to ‘early next week’ — DoH
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Sat, 22 Feb 2020 07:00:22 +0000
THE arrival on Sunday of almost 500 Filipinos aboard the coronavirus-hit M/V Diamond Princess Cruise Ship was reset to “early next week”, the Department of Health (DoH) announced on Saturday.
In a statement, DoH said the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID) “unanimously resolved” to “allow Japanese health authorities to complete the laboratory testing of 400-plus Filipino crew members aboard the ship and comply with the established Japanese quarantine protocols,” the DoH said.
The DoH also said that the Japanese government has ensured that appropriate health services were being provided to the affected Filipinos aboard the ship.
“Our Tokyo Embassy is working closely with the Japanese health and foreign ministry to complete the quarantine protocols for the Philippine Government to repatriate Filipino crew members as soon as possible,” it said.
In a TV interview also on Saturday, Health Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that Filipinos who would be repatriated must test negative twice from the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) before embarkation.
She also said that another reason for cancelling the repatriation was that Japanese health personnel would have a weekend off from February 22-24.
“So there is no ground handler [doon] sa airport na pupuntahan ng ating mag repatriates (So there are no ground handler in the airport were the repatriates will go),” she said.
In a press conference on Friday, Vergeire said that there were about 480 Filipinos aboard the ship. Of the number, 52 tested positive for Covid-19.
The Diamond Princess, which was docked at a port in Japan, has the most number of infected people outside China with 634 confirmed cases.
Among 3,200 people aboard of the ship were 558 Filipinos, mostly crew members.
The repatriates will still be quarantined at the New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac.
The protocols for bringing home Filipinos from Wuhan City in China will be applied to Filipinos from the Diamond Princess, which means that they have to be isolated for 14 days upon arrival.
The ship was quarantined on February 6, days after docking off Yokohama when authorities learned that a former passenger who disembarked in Hong Kong in January tested positive for the virus. JAN ARCILLA