Duterte scores public’s ‘hysterical’ response to nCoV: There’s no need for it

President Rodrigo Duterte said there was no need to be hysterical over the novel coronavirus finding its way in the country.

Duterte said one just needed to be checked at a hospital if he or she suspected having the disease.

"You know, this coronavirus scaring people all over the country. The response of the people from the initial reports of coronavirus was almost hysterical when there was really no need for it actually," Duterte said after a Cabinet meeting on the illness.

"If there is really a virus going around, why do you have to be hysterical? Why don’t you just go to the hospital and have yourself treated or if you are quarantined, if you suspect that you have acquired," he added.

The president noted that stocks of face masks were quickly depleted due to the high demand caused by the “hysteria.”

“The supply is depleted because there’s an emergency and there’s a need for it so everybody is buying. That’s the reason why there is a scarce supply in the market. Without the virus, the masks are not being sold by the thousands,” he said.

The president also assured the public that the government has procured more stocks of face masks but did not give a definite date on the delivery of the new supplies.

“We are not just sitting down here. We have resources coming in,” he said.

Retailers of medical supplies in Bambang, Manila earlier said that it has been a week since they last received new stocks of face masks.

Fears over the novel coronavirus heightened after the Department of Health confirmed two cases of the disease in the country, with 48 other patients pending confirmation. —NB/LDF, GMA News