Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 2) — The Department of Health and Cebu authorities continue to track down a South Korean from coronavirus-hit Daegu City, who gave false information about his travel details, Health Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said on Monday.
Twenty-six foreign tourists from Daegu City in South Korea arrived in Cebu City on February 25 — a day before the Philippines announced a selective travel ban on North Gyeongsang Province, where Daegu is located. Of that number, 15 have already left for South Korea, while two others are set to leave the country today. One person has left Cebu City, while 7 are undergoing strict monitoring in their hotels.
Vergeire said one South Korean remains untraceable after he put “erroneous” information on his travel arrival card. He gave the name of the hotel he will supposedly stay in, but he never checked in.
The health official clarified that the man is not considered a patient under investigation, but he should be placed under strict monitoring because he traveled from a high-risk place.
“We still have to look for them kasi kailangan ma-monitor natin sila, kailangan mag-monitored self quarantine kasi ‘yung probabilidad, mataas dahil galing sila sa lugar na may mga kaso,” she said.
[Translation: We have to look for all of them because they need to be under a monitored self-quarantined because it’s risky because they came from a place where there is a high number of confirmed cases.]
Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia on February 28 ordered a mandatory 14-day quarantine on all travelers coming from North Gyeonsang Province. The order covered the 26 Korean nationals who already arrived in Cebu from Daegu prior to the declaration of a travel ban.
READ: South Koreans from coronavirus-hit Daegu under monitoring in Cebu, Boracay
Garcia said she issued the order in view of the “confusion” on the part of the national government agencies whether a travel ban is already in effect or not. The Bureau of Immigration also on Feb. 28 said it was enforcing the ban that day — two days after it was announced — because it had to address some implementation issues.
Daegu is where the majority of South Korea’s coronavirus cases are concentrated. South Korea has the most confirmed coronavirus cases outside of mainland China. There are at least 4,200 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 26 deaths; about 60 percent of all nationwide cases are linked to the Shincheonji religious group and its branch in the southern city of Daegu, which has reported more than 2,500 cases.
Aside from the South Korean province, the Philippines also has an existing travel ban on China, its special administrative regions Hong Kong and Macau, and Taiwan.
