Not rational to quarantine Filipinos from M/V Diamond Princess to other places - DOH
The Department of Health rejected on Monday the call of the local government of Capas to look for other places to quarantine the Filipino crew and passengers of M/V Diamond Princess cruise ship docked at Yokohama, Japan to ensure rhe coronavirus disease would not spread in the country.
In a press briefing in Malacanang, Health Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the Interagency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has identified other options and trying to prepare other quarantine facilities.
"But with that request coming from our local government official, we deemed it wise not to accede to that request because it is not really rational at this point because we are going to bring home persons or our kababayans coming from a ship which is highly infected," she explained.
"So distributing our kababayans into different sites or different facilities would increase the risk of us for further possible transmission of the disease. That’s why we deemed it best and decided, and the inter-agency task force has decided that we just bring to one facility for this special circumstance," she added.
The over 400 Filipino crew and passengers of M/V Diamond Princess are set to arrive Tuesday from Yokohama, said Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr on Sunday.
They will be brought to Athlete's Village in New Clark City in Capas where some 30 Filipino repatriates from Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus disease outbreak, in China, also underwent a 14-day quarantine.
Capas Mayor Reynaldo Catacutan has urged the DOH to look for other quarantine areas apart from New Clark City.
He suggested that those who would arrive from Japan could be placed in various areas and not all in Capas.
Previously, the local government of Capas also opposed the bringing in of overseas Filipino workers from Wuhan to Capas for fear that CONVID-19 would spread in their area.
But the government insisted the precautionary measures have been put in place and that the Athlete's Village is owned by the national government.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles in the same press briefing, meanwhile, said that the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Labor and Employment are ironing out the details of the repatriation plan for Filipinos in Macau.
As of 9:30am of February 24, 132 patients under investigation have been admitted in various hospitals, with 474 PUIs having been discharged after tests revealed that they were negative of COVID-19.
Except for the three initial confirmed cases, with two of them already recovered and one fatality, "there are no confirmed cases as of today in our country," Nograles said.
He also said that the government is preparing to send samples of virgin coconut oil for testing at the National University of Singapore as a possible treatment for COVID-19.
"As to the efficacy of virgin coconut oil in combatting COVID 19, a leading proponent, an academician in one of our top universities is actually spearheading this initiative, and the National University of Singapore has accepted to test VCO against COVID-19," he said. Celerina Monte/DMS
