MANILA, Philippines — 177 Chinese nationals who wanted to return to their home country left the Philippines Wednesday night, the Bureau of Immigration said.
In a message to reporters, Immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval said the first batch of Chinese nationals left the country through a chartered flight paid by the Chinese embassy.
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“The Chinese embassy paid for it, chartered flight, so they coordinated the chartered flight. They pledged to do it even before to help their citizens,” she said.
Sandoval explained that the foreigners arrived in the country before the travel ban but could not book their flights back to their home country
due to suspension of outbound flights.
President Rodrigo Duterte on February 2 imposed a travel ban to the People’s Republic of China and its
Special Administrative Regions (SARs), Macau and Hong Kong. It covers passengers who traveled to China and its SARs within 14 days.
Sandoval said the bureau cannot determine the number of Chinese nationals who remain stranded in the country
due to the travel ban as the information would
be coming from the Chinese embassy.
“So we are still waiting if there will be a next batch,” she added.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente earlier sought for public understanding on the travel ban as he stressed that it is a temporary measure.
“The directive of the President follows the recommendation of the Department of Health, which is in line with advisories from the World Health Organization,” he added.
The Health department recorded 133 patients under investigation for suspected
nCoV case on Wednesday.
The Philippines reported three confirmed cases on
nCoV in the country, with one fatality.
Authorities are contact tracing those who may have come in contact with the three confirmed cases of
nCoV. — with a report from The STAR/Evelyn Macairan