Duque not yet inclined to ban tourists from mainland China amid nCoV threat

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III is currently unwilling to ban tourists from mainland China even with the threat of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) due to possible "repercussions" from China.

During the Question Hour at the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda asked Duque if he would be inclined to ban the entry of tourists from mainland China into the Philippines while the 2019-nCoV is not yet contained in that country.

In response, Duque told Legarda that they are considering the possibility of banning tourists from mainland China but "not at this very moment."

"The reason being is we have to be very careful also about the possible repercussions of doing this in the light of the fact that the confirmed cases of coronavirus are not limited to China but now in fact in several countries," Duque said.

"If we do this, then the concerned country, China in this case, might question why were not doing the same for all the other countries that have reported confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus," he added.

Most of the confirmed cases of the disease are in China, with nearly 6,000 infected and 132 dead. China is also where the disease originated.

'Leveled up' response

Duque, however, told Legarda and the rest of the lawmakers in the plenary that the Department of Health has "leveled up" its response to the 2019-nCoV, should it be confirmed that it has entered the country.

"Our quarantine officers are well-equipped to make sure that patients who will be classified as persons under investigation will be isolated. Consequently, they will be subjected to further evaluation and the specimens, the collection will be sent to the reference lab, the RITM (Research Institute for Tropical Medicine), which is the primary laboratory that does the testing," he said.

"The second level will be the regional epidemiology and surveillance unit, the mechanism is also in place. So we've leveled up across the spectrum of the health system, that is to respond to the event even when the n-coronavirus enters the country," he added.

Duque also said that they will take up Legarda's concern in the next meetings of the DOH task force against 2019-nCoV.

Currently, there are no confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in the Philippines, although the DOH admitted that there are 23 persons under investigation for the illness.

The Bureau of Immigration has temporarily stopped issuing tourist visas on arrival to Chinese nationals in a bid to curb their arrival and minimize the chance of virus transmission. — BM, GMA News