Even if after death of confirmed case, Palace says meeting on nCoV not late

President Rodrigo Duterte's emergency meeting with members of his Cabinet to discuss the novel coronavirus didn't come too late, a Malacañang official said on Monday.

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar made the remark ahead of the meeting slated on Monday afternoon and a few days after a confirmed nCoV-infected person died in Manila.

“It is not late. It is just timely, given that the government has already complied with the directives of the [World Health Organization] and the [Department of Health],” Andanar said at a news briefing.

Andanar pointed out that the 44-year-old Chinese male who died on Saturday came to the Philippines from China. 

His is the first nCoV-related death outside China.

“Our response is methodical. Nataon lang rin na iyong case ay first death outside China,” Andanar said.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo earlier justified the schedule of the meeting saying it would be more about developments on nCoV since a protocol on government response was already in place.

Two days after Panelo made the comments the nCoV patient died.

The fatality is the second confirmed case of nCoV in the country. His girlfriend, a 38-year-old Chinese, was the first.

The flew into China from Hong Kong and went to Dumaguete and Cebu.

Duterte ordered a travel ban on individuals coming from Hubei, China on January 31.

He expanded the ban to travelers coming in from the whole of China as well as its special administrative regions Hong Kong and Macau on February 2.

Chinese authorities banned travelers to and from Wuhan, the epicenter of nCoV ARD, on January 23. Wuhan is in Hubei.

The Chinese couple who were infected with nCoV arrived in the Philippines on January 21 or ahead of the Wuhan lockdown. 

The WHO declared a global emergency due to nCoV ARD on January 31. —NB, GMA News