Salceda eyes creation of Center for Disease Control

Albay Representative Joey Salceda will file a bill seeking the creation of a Center for Disease Control.

Salceda so announced at a press conference amid the global spread of the novel coronavirus.

He said the proposed CDC would be an independent agency combining the Department of Health’s (DOH) Disease Prevention and Control Bureau (DPCB) and Epidemiology Bureau “giving it more powers and more resources.”

“It will be independent para makapag-focus po ang DOH on its regular public health function and the maintenance of the entire health system,” Salceda said.

“At the same time we have one single unit that attends to... that gives the public a sense of confidence that we have institutions to address emerging diseases,” he said.

The DOH said the number of people under investigation in the Philippines for possible infection of novel coronavirus has almost doubled in the past 24 hours as it climbed to 24.  

The Health department, however, said there remained no confirmed case of novel coronavirus in the Philippines yet.

Earlier in the day, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) temporarily stopped issuing tourist visas on arrival to Chinese nationalsin a bid to curb their arrival and minimize the chance of virus transmission.

To speed up the creation of an independent CDC, Salceda said the President can issue an executive order that will combine DPCB and Epidemiology Bureau.

“But We want an organic combination through legislation to institutionalize CDC,” he said.

Death toll has reached over 100 and more than 4,000 have already been infected, the Chinese government said on Tuesday. —NB, GMA News