Coronavirus: Philippines reports first death outside China as Duterte orders travel ban on visitors from mainland, Hong Kong
- The victim was a 44-year-old male Chinese national who was the companion of a 38-year-old Chinese woman who arrived in the Philippines on January 21
- A new Philippine travel ban could apply to all travellers from China, including Hong Kong
The Philippines has reported the first coronavirus death outside China, hours after a senator said the country would issue a sweeping travel ban that included Hong Kong.
The victim was a 44-year-old male Chinese national, who died on February 1. He was the companion of a 38-year-old Chinese woman, who arrived in the Philippines from Wuhan on January 21 after travelling through Hong Kong.
Over the course of the patient’s admission, he developed severe pneumonia, the Philippines’ Department of Health said.
“This is the first reported death outside China,” Rabindra Abeyasinghe, the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative to the Philippines, said.
The announcement came hours after Philippine media reported that President Rodrigo Duterte was set to issue a temporary travel ban on visitors from China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus that has claimed more than 300 lives in China.
The measures would apply to all travellers from China regardless of nationality.
That travel ban announcement was made by Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, a former close aide of Duterte, in an interview aired on GMA News TV on Sunday.
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“Taking into consideration the concerns raised by key government officials and health experts, the president made a decision and has agreed to adopt this recommendation and implement it immediately as additional precautionary measure to protect the Filipinos,” the senator said, according to GMA News TV.
Filipinos who were in China will have to undergo a 14-day quarantine period upon arriving in the Philippines, likely impacting many of the 240,000 Filipino workers in Hong Kong.
When the measures would be lifted was not mentioned.
Eman Villanueva, a spokesman for the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body in Hong Kong, said that Filipino workers, many of them domestic helpers, would have made plans to return to home in April for Holy Week, which includes Easter. But the 14-day quarantine period would complicate those plans.
“That would mean foregoing the home leave, because it would be meaningless,” Villanueva said.
Jess Mendez, a 38-year-old Filipino domestic helper in Hong Kong, said the travel restrictions could prevent her from witnessing her 18-year-old daughter’s graduation ceremony, also in April.
“I was scheduled to go home in February for my mother’s death anniversary ... I am basically deprived of going home and spending time with my family,” she said.
But she said she understands that the measure was necessary to protect the safety of Filipinos.
The discovery of the Philippines’ first coronavirus case last Thursday prompted the Department of Health secretary Francisco Duque to immediately recommend a temporary ban on all travellers from Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak.
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Wuhan, with a population of 11 million, has been placed on lockdown, as have many other Chinese cities.
China’s Foreign Ministry has blasted the US government for restricting the entry of Chinese nationals.
“While the WHO has only just specifically advised against any travel restrictions, the US has decided to act in the opposite way. This has set a bad example. It is certainly not a gesture of goodwill,” ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.
A Hong Kong businessman who supplies Chinese medicine to the Philippines – and travels frequently to Manila – said he was at a loss at what to do in the face of a travel ban.
“I won’t be able enter the Philippines. My business has come to a halt,” said the man, who asked not to be named.
“This is affecting my business badly. But at the same time, I think that as a president, (Duterte) did the right thing. He did so for the interests of his citizens. He is responsible for the well-being of his people.”
The Philippines is a popular destination for Chinese travellers, for both tourism and business.
Previously Health Secretary Duque had been reticent about implementing a total travel ban. On Wednesday he had warned congressmen that if the Philippines did so “China might question why we’re not doing the same for all other countries that have reported cases of the virus. It’s very tricky”.
Additional reporting by Sum Lok-kei, Phila Siu and agencies