Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 5) – The disaster response council of Metro Manila has asked the Department of Health (DOH) and the Philippine National Police to come up with clear procedures on how local governments in the capital region could handle possible cases of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
The request stemmed from reports by local governments that some patients under investigation (PUIs) refused to be admitted to a hospital for treatment.
“We requested National Capital Region Police Office insofar as assisting our disaster risk reduction management officers and the Department of Health sa pagkuha ng mga, let’s say, matitigas na ulo na PUIs [in dealing with stubborn PUIs],” Michael Salalima, head of the Metro Manila Development Authority’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said during the inquiry on the government’s response to the 2019-nCoV outbreak at the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
Salalima also said they asked the DOH to just provide them with coronavirus information materials, with DOH as the only source to determine which is possible fake news.
“We have requested for the DOH to provide us only one material and coming only from them ‘yung amin pong idi-disseminate [which we will disseminate] to all the cities, specifically sa city health, city disaster risk reduction and management [officers].”
Meanwhile, all 17 local governments in Metro Manila have created a task force to prevent the virus from spreading.
Some of them have “activated their contingency plans” as early as January of this year, planning and carrying out information campaign at the barangay [village] level, Salalima said.
Lawmaker tells top health official: Fix your priorities
Muntinlupa Rep. Ruffy Biazon decried the absence of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III in the House inquiry, saying his priorities must be fixed.
“As the overall in charge of this crisis, I believe he should have been here, hindi siya inspektor ng mga kuwarto … Paki-sabi ayusin niya ang kaniyang priorities. [He is not just a facility inspector … Please tell him to fix his priorities], Biazon said, addressing Duque’s associates from the DOH.
Duque told CNN Philippines he will inspect Wednesday the possible isolation site for overseas Filipino workers from China which is Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija. He was instructed by President Rodrigo Duterte to go to the area during their Cabinet meeting on Tuesday before the first batch of repatriates arrives on Saturday.
Duque was criticized during a Senate hearing on Tuesday after it was revealed that it has assessed only 17 percent or 58 of the 331 airplane passengers who may have come in contact with two confirmed 2019-nCoV cases in the Philippines — a Chinese couple from Wuhan — the capital of China’s Hubei province where the 2019-nCoV originated.
Lawmakers also approved a resolution calling on Duque to utilize all of his powers and resources as head of the task force to combat the 2019-nCoV, and for all the members of the task group to be proactive in carrying out their mission.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday that 42 overseas Filipino workers expressed willingness to be repatriated from Hubei, the Chinese province where the 2019-nCoV was first identified.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Brigido Dulay said Wednesday they are seeking clearance from Chinese authorities to fly the Filipinos home.
Filipinos are exempted from the travel ban on nationals from mainland China and its special administrative regions Hong Kong and Macau, which all have confirmed 2019-nCoV cases.
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