The 12 Chinese medical experts who arrived in the country last Sunday are scheduled to visit health facilities handling coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients, according to Department of Health (DOH) on Monday.

In a TV interview, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the Chinese delegation will visit Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), the Lung Center of the Philippines, San Lazaro Hospital and quarantine facilities to train Filipino medical professionals.

“They will also go to our community quarantine facilities to check on what procedures are being implemented there,” Vergeire said.

She said their recommendations could be used in the country's policy direction on addressing the pandemic.

As of Monday, the DOH said 414 new COVID-19 cases were reported, bringing the total to 3,660.Eleven patients died, raising the total to 163 deaths.

Nine patients recovered, placing the total of recoveries at 73.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the Chinese medical experts will be here until April 19.

“They have a lot of good practices when they managed their COVID-19 patients in Wuhan and Hubei,” he said in a statement.

Duque said they are experts who had firsthand experience in the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.

He clarified that their tasks will be purely advisory.

“It is really guiding how to improve, level-up our COVID-19 response, learn different levels of surveillance, risk-assessment, isolation strategies, detection through accurate testing, clinical case management, and non-pharmaceutical public health measures," Duque said.

DOH said the Chinese experts also brought with them 5,000 PPEs, 300,000 surgical masks, 30,000 medical N95 masks, 5,000 medical protective face shields and 30 non-invasive ventilators from the Chinese government. EllaDionisio/DMS