Philippines to declare health emergency
MANILA: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte will declare a public health emergency to help contain the spread of the coronavirus, after the country recorded its first case of community transmission, officials said on Saturday.
The nation’s health ministry has reported three new cases of the infection since Friday, adding to the three Chinese tourists who were diagnosed with the virus in January and the first week of February.
Duterte has agreed to declare a health emergency following the latest development, Bong Go, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and a close aide of the president, told reporters.
All government agencies were asked to “undertake critical, urgent and appropriate response and measures in a timely manner to curtail and eliminate the COVID-19 threat,” Go said.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque said the sixth patient was the wife of 62-year-old man confirmed to be the first in the country to have been infected by the dreaded ailment by local transmission.
Duque told a media briefing the wife was found positive of the virus after she complained of cough and was confined at the government-run Regional Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Metro Manila along with her husband who was declared in “serious condition” mainly due to pneumonia.
As a result, Duque raised the alert level for the disease to Code Red, meaning that all hospital personnel are to report for duty in their respective facilities to provide medical services to COVID-19 patients.
After it was proven that he has no history of foreign travel, the husband was considered to be the first to be infected by local transmission. He was said to frequently visit a Muslim prayer hall in a popular shopping mall in Metro Manila which has since been closed, according to Duque.
At the same time, the consultancy and financial advisory firm Deloitte Philippines also confirmed on Saturday its employee was one of the two latest confirmed COVID-19 cases that brought the number of patients to a total of five as a Friday.
In a statement, the Deloitte said the affected employee, aged 48, was the one who travelled to
Japan and returned to the country and admitted he was experiencing flu-like symptoms linked to the ailment.
“We confirm that a colleague in our Deloitte Philippines office has tested positive for COVID-L9,” the company said in a statement from its headquarters in suburban Taguig City in Metro Manila.