nCoV CONCERNS. Chinese nationals residing in Dumaguete City meet with Department of Health officials on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020, to raise their concerns and issues amid the nCoV scare. Some of them are running business establishments in the city such as dive shops and retail stores. (Contributed photo)
DUMAGUETE CITY – Amid growing public concern over the dreaded novel coronavirus (2019 n-CoV), some schools here suspended classes while various institutions are taking preventive measures to prevent local transmission.
This, as two Chinese nationals from Wuhan, China who visited this city had tested positive of the virus.
The 38-year-old female and 44-year-old male arrived here Jan. 22 and departed Jan. 25. Both were confined at the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila, and the man died last Feb. 1.
Five persons who came in close contact with the two Chinese nationals are now in isolation at the provincial hospital.
Silliman University said in an advisory Monday night that beginning Wednesday, Feb. 5, online classes have been arranged for pre-school to senior high school students as part of their preventive measures.
“The alternative learning scheme” will require teachers to still continue with their duty hours to allow parents and guardians to communicate with them while also utilizing the time to prepare grades and similar tasks, the advisory said.
Tertiary and graduate levels are not included in this alternative learning scheme.
Another advisory will be issued if classes for the lower levels will resume on Feb. 10.
Meanwhile, the Foundation University said classes at all levels will not be suspended.
However, parents have the liberty to decide whether to send their children to school or not for safety and health reasons.
Their children will have to “accomplish school tasks at home and shall regularly check-in virtually with their teachers.”
For students of the Colegio de Sta. Catalina de Alejandria (COSCA), a Catholic school owned and run by the diocese, classes in the Basic Education and Senior High School levels were suspended beginning Tuesday afternoon and will resume on Feb. 10 or until further notice.
Tertiary level students and teachers, meanwhile, were asked to report Tuesday afternoon to help in the disinfection activities of the school.
Some hotels here have also instituted measures such as screening of guests upon entry to their premises.
Some are handing out free alcohol and hand sanitizers while one hotel is using a thermal scanner.
More institutions are expected to initiate their own preventive measures although health authorities here continue to advise the public not to panic but to observe proper hygiene through regular hand-washing, wearing of masks in crowded places or when attending to a person with nCoV symptoms, staying away from crowded places, and boosting the immune system with proper diet, intake of lots of fluids especially water, and getting enough sleep.
Chinese nationals who have taken up residence here are also meeting with health officials to raise their own concerns regarding their businesses and their status, among others, as government officials are appealing to stop discrimination against them.
Meanwhile, in a pastoral letter to the different parish priests, Dumaguete Bishop Julito Cortes reiterated the health recommendations from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines for the faithful to receive communion in the hand, avoid holding hands during the singing of the “Our Father”, shaking hands during the Sign of Peace, and to not kiss the ring of the bishop and priests at this time of a health crisis.
He also asked that the Oratio Imperata on the nCoV, a special prayer usually prepared for specific emergencies, calamities, and disasters, be prayed after each mass.
As of Monday, five people who were traced to have come in contact with the Chinese couple during their visit here are in isolation at the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital (NOPH) pending results of laboratory tests from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Manila after screening showed they had flu-like symptoms.
Twenty-five others are tagged as persons under monitoring (PUMs) but were not admitted to the hospital after they turned up negative of flu-like symptoms.
Thermal scanners and health teams have been put up at the airport and seaports to conduct screening of all people coming in and out of Dumaguete to strengthen measures in preventing a local nCoV transmission. (PNA)
