Virus-wary Filipinos crowd into shelters as typhoon hits
More than 150,000 people were riding out a weakening typhoon in emergency shelters in the Philippines yesterday after a mass evacuation that was complicated and slowed by the coronavirus.
Typhoon Vongfong has weakened after slamming ashore into Eastern Samar province on Thursday and was blowing northwestward toward the populous main northern island of Luzon, government forecasters said.
There was no immediate reports of casualties or major damage as authorities surveyed regions where the typhoon has passed.
The typhoon’s maximum sustained wind has weakened to 125km/h with gusts of 165km/h but it remains dangerous especially in coastal areas, forecasters said.
In the northeastern Bicol region, more than 145,000 villagers have fled or were moved by disasterresponse teams to dozens of emergency shelters, mostly school buildings, Office of Civil Defence director Claudio Yucot said.
Thousands more were evacuated to safety in the outlying provinces of Samar, where the typhoon first blew over, officials said.
Unlike before, rescuers and volunteers needed to wear face masks and protective suits before deployment and could not transport villagers to emergency shelters in large numbers as a safeguard against the Covid-19 disease, Yucot said.
“Our ease of movement has been limited by Covid,” Yucot told The Associated Press by telephone from Albay province in the Bicol region, which has had dozens of coronavirus infections, including four deaths and remains under quarantine. “In the evacuation centers, there are more challenges.”
In an evacuation room, which could shelter up to 40 families before, only four families could be accommodated now as a safeguard against infections and the occupants should know each other and required to report any infected villager, Yucot said.
The typhoon hit as the Philippines struggles to deal with coronavirus outbreaks, largely with a lockdown in Luzon that is to be eased this weekend, except in metropolitan Manila and two other high-risk areas. The rest of the country will be placed in less restrictive quarantine, and crucial businesses will partially reopen starting next week.
The Philippines has reported more than 11,600 coronavirus infections, including 772 deaths, among the highest in Southeast Asia.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced the lifting of a coronavirus state of emergency ahead of schedule in most of the country except for eight high-risk areas.
Abe lifted the measure in 39 of the country’s 47 prefectures. It remains in effect in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hokkaido and four other prefectures.
Abe declared a month-long state of emergency on April 7 in Tokyo and six other urban prefectures and later extended it to the whole country through May 31.
He said experts will meet next week to decide if the measure can be lifted in the remaining areas and pledged to bring the coronavirus outbreak under control by the end of May.
Japan has more than 16,000 confirmed cases, including about 680 deaths.
South Korea has confirmed 29 more coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours as it battles a spike linked to nightlife spots in Seoul.
The additional cases reported by the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention pushed the national total to 10,991 with 260 deaths. Most of the new cases were people infected locally while three came from overseas.
South Korea’s caseload has climbed in the past week, with new cases linked to nightclubs in Seoul’s entertainment Itaewon district threatening South Korea’s hardwon progress in containing the virus.