MANILA -- Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Thursday said the Department of Health (DOH) would recommend temporary restriction of travelers from Hubei, China to keep the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) from spreading nationwide.
"I will strongly recommend to Inter-agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases a temporary restriction of travelers from the entire Hubei province of China. But, I believe that will still change and it could expand the number of places, depending on the assessment of the WHO (World Health Organization)," Duque said in a press briefing at the DOH main office.
Inter-agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases includes the Departments of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Interior and Local Government (DILG), Labor and Employment (DOLE), Tourism (DOT), Transportation (DOTr), and Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
Duque added the WHO might include in their travel restriction list more places with "relatively higher burden of nCoV infection".
WHO Country Representative Rabindra Abeyasinghe said the organization's members will have a meeting about the 2019-nCoV situation because of the increased number of cases recorded in China and other countries.
"We'll review this evidence if it is enough to classify this event as a public health emergency of international concern. If WHO decides this as so, it would work with member states to actively stop the transmission of this virus and that may include restrictions of the member states... we can't tell what the restrictions are... they'll be based on the assessment, conclusions the committee will reach this evening," Abeyasinghe said.
He added that declaration of a public health emergency of international concern aims to prevent further spread of the disease and to control it as early as possible.
According to WHO's January 29 situation report on the 2019-nCoV, there are 6,065 confirmed cases of the virus worldwide.
In China, there are 5,997 confirmed cases, 9,239 suspected cases, 1,239 severe cases, and 132 deaths.
Outside of China, there are 68 confirmed cases in 15 countries including Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Nepal, Sri Lanka, United States of America, Canada, France, Germany, and United Arab Emirates. (PNA)
