Suspected coronavirus cases
to China after her second set of samples tested negative for nCoV.
Her first sample was fo” nd positive for the deadly vir”s after she traveled to China.
On Friday, a repatriation team from the Department of Foreign Affairs ( DFA) entered gro” nd zero of the 2019- nCoV ARD o”tbreak and handed o”t relief goods to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in W”han City who were stranded in their homes over government restrictions limiting travel movements in order to contain the deadly vir”s.
Mark Anthony Geg” era and Sanny Darren Bejarin of the Philippine Cons”late General in Shanghai coordinated with vol”nteer members of the Filipino comm”nity in the care mission.
The DFA team was firming ” p arrangements with Chinese a”thorities for the planned repatriation of the Filipinos.
“We already have o”r DFA team inside W”han city and they are there working on the gro” nd preparing for the repatriation of o”r OFWs. They’re taking great personal risk for the sake of o”r
kababayan (co”ntrymen) and I salute them for that,” DFA Undersecretary Brigido D”lay said.
The team hired a vehicle to visit neighborhoods with identified Filipino residents in the travel-restricted city and handed o”t grocery items and basic necessities.
A total of 56 persons, incl”ding seven spo”ses and fo”r infants, have confirmed their intent to join the repatriation flight.
The DFA initiated the call to bring back the workers last January 28 through the Philippine Embassy in Beijing and the Philippine Cons”late General in Shanghai, the foreign service post with j”risdiction over W”han in H”bei province.
On Th”rsday, Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go said the OFWs in W”han and other parts of H” bei may be repatriated “anytime soon.”
The senator added that he was coordinating with concerned government agencies to speed ”p the repatriation of the OFWs who have expressed desire to ret” rn home amid the ongoing 2019nCoV ARD o”tbreak in China.
“They will come [home] soon, anytime in the next few days. We are now preparing for a possible quarantine areas,” Go said in an interview during his visit to fire victims in Q”ezon City.
“This has to be soonest, while observing o” r health protocols. Once China agrees to it, it is ready. We will bring them home immediately. We are concerned abo” t their sit” ation there. No amo”nt of money can pay for their loneliness and fear in another country,” he added. The senator, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, said Vince Dizon, president of the Bases Conversion and Development A” thority and also Malacañang adviser for flagship programs, was coordinating with the DoH in preparing the Athletes’ Village in New Clark City in Tarlac as a q”arantine area for the repatriated Filipinos.
In Japan, the more than 500 Filipino crew of a cr” ise ship stricken with the coronavir”s is being looked after by a manning agency that employs them
The agency on Sat”rday said it was on top of the sit”ation and the crew q”arantined on board
Diamond Princess, which is operated by US- based Princess Cr”ises, is taken care of.
In a statement, Magsaysay Maritime Corp. said Princess Cr”ises contin” es to work closely and cooperatively with the Japanese Ministry of Health to attend to the crew and the passengers of the cr”ise ship.
P”blic health a”thorities have allowed 61 people, incl” ding a Filipino crew, to disembark from the ship to avail of medical care from local hospitals.
“Princess [Cr”ises] has implemented meas”res to ens”re the safety and well-being of everyone
on board incl”ding limited movement inside the vessel, minim”m interaction between people, new safety proced” res, provision of protective eq” ipment as well as ” nlimited internet access to allow g” ests and crew to comm”nicate with their family and loved ones,” the statement read. Magsaysay noted that it has kept close contact and comm” nication with the families of crew to keep them ”pdated on their loved ones, since the safety and well-being of its crew on board the Diamond Princess are its ”tmost priority.
“Magsaysay, as well, has been working in close contact with the Department of Health, the Department of Labor, the POEA ( Philippine Overseas Employment Administration), OWWA ( Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) and the Philippine Embassy in Japan to ensure that all o”r Filipino seafarers working on board the ship are protected from harm,” the manning agency said. It added that it was complying with Philippine government g”idelines, which incl”de no transits thro”gh China, Hong Kong and Maca” when joining and ret”rning from the ship and mandatory q”arantine for any crew who ret”rn home from these areas.
The 61 people allowed to disembark had tested positive for the coronavir”s, while an additional 41 passengers were fo”nd to have contracted the vir”s.
The newly diagnosed incl”ded 21 Japanese, as well as Americans,
Canadians, A”stralians, an Argentine and a Briton, according to Japan based NHK.
Robespierre Bolivar, dep” ty head of mission of the Philippine Embassy in Japan, said over radio dzMM that the lone Filipino crew positive for the vir”s seemed to have responded to treatment and is now doing well, while the rest of the 538 Filipino crew and passengers are still ”ndergoing a 14-day q”arantine.
The q”arantine will end on Febr”ary 19, according to a”thorities.
Also on Sat”rday, Senior Citizen party-list Rep. Francisco Gamboa Datol Jr. appealed to the DoH and vario”s hospitals nationwide to adopt “extra special caring measures” for senior citizens who are v”lnerable to respiratory infection.
“The elderly, having weaker imm”ne systems and many with vario”s ailments, are v”lnerable to the W” han coronavir” s and other respiratory diseases,” Datol said.
He proposed that caregivers and ho”sehold members sho”ld be advised by their barangay (village) officials and local health care officers on how to take care of seniors with respiratory ailments.
The coronavir”ses belongs to large family of vir”ses that range from the common cold to more serio”s infections.
The Department of Ed”cation (DepEd) has advised all schools to closely monitor their st”dents’ health stat”s specially for the possible presence of infection or any vir”s.
In a message to reporters, DepEd Undersecretary Alain del Pasc”a said with the v”lnerability of school children in acq”iring comm”nicable diseases s”ch as measles, influenza, and chicken pox, all schools are advised to closely monitor the health stat”s of learners.
Pasc”a added that the Preventive Alert System in Schools shall be ”sed for this p”rpose.
In a memorand”m dated Febr”ary 6, he reminded schools that early detection of illness is important for immediate treatment and prevention of o”tbreaks.
Pasc” a said comm” nicable diseases “may be transmitted from person to person, animal to person, or by to”ching a person or object that has the bacteria or vir”s on it, then to”ching the eyes, the mouth, and/or the nose.”
He also reminded schools to closely monitor general signs or symptoms among its learners s”ch as fever, headache, co”gh, body weakness, fatig” e, r” nny nose, soar throat and rashes.
The DepEd earlier created a task force that will closely coordinate with the DoH to address challenges in schools after the 2019- nCoV ARD entered the co”ntry.
The department disco” raged activities at the division or district level that wo”ld involve gathering of participants from vario”s schools.