简体中文
By APD writer Melo M. Acuña
MANILA, Feb. 10 (APD) – With the repatriation of 32 Filipinos from Wuhan, Hubei yesterday morning, a total of 49 persons are now under quarantine at the Athlete’s Village in Capas town in Tarlac Province.
In a statement released by the Department of Health, the number included two DFA advance party personnel, eight members of the repatriation team, six plane crew members and three ground crew operations undergoing the mandated 14-day quarantine.
According to the Department of Health, the 32 repatriated Overseas Filipinos from Wuhan, composed of 14 females and 18 males, did not manifest fever or other respiratory symptoms. They are all considered Persons Under Monitoring (PUM) and have remained under observation and in isolation.
“Our on-site medical staff from Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital (in City of San Fernando, Pampanga) will be working 24/7 to conduct daily monitoring of the vital signs and status of the PUMs, and provide appropriate health services to those who were quarantined,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said.
As of midday today, there are 261 Persons Under Investigation (PUIs) confined in various health facilities while 48 PUIs have been discharged under string monitoring. It was learned 109 PUIs tested negative and 3 tested positive for the 2019-nCOV. There are still 202 cases pending test results from the Regional Institute of Tropical Medicine, another facility under the Department of Health.
Secretary Duque assured the general public of all hospitals under his Department are equipped to cater to the possible influx of patients and continue to adhere to strict infection control protocols to contain the virus.
In a related development, the Epidemiology Bureau along with the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) identified 441 contacts of the first and second case of 2019-nCOV ARD.
As far as the third confirmed case, a total of 224 or 56% of the 403 contacts were traced, including co-passengers and individual contacts from hotels and hospitals. The DOH reported 147 or 66% contacts have been interviewed and placed on home quarantine, 8 symptomatic contacts have been considered as PUIs and are admitted for isolation and monitoring.
At the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo confirmed four other Filipinos aboard cruise ship Diamond Princess tested positive for the novel Coronavirus yesterday (February 9,2020). Today, five Filipinos have been found positive cases and presently undergoing treatment in hospitals in Japan.
The four Filipinos, all crew members, are among the six newly-confirmed cases of the virus since the vessel was docked off the port of Yokohama, Japan on February 4.
The Embassy is closely coordinating with Japanese authorities, and is in constant communication with the Filipinos still onboard, to provide them all the possible assistance.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
