Filipinos on quarantined ship to come home on February 23 — DOH
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health at a press briefing on Thursday said that some 500 Filipinos previously aboard the Diamond Princess, the cruise ship in Japan quarantined
The upcoming repatriation effort, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III
According to Duque, the compatriots will
"There will be more transport services. You will have two aircrafts, more transportation to bring the repatriates to the facility. There will just be a multiplier effect," Duque said.
Those coming home have not exhibited symptoms of the new virus although Duque expressed uncertainty as to their exact number.
"Let's just have an indicative number of 500, more or less," he said.
Asked if those undergoing repatriation would
'Repatriates quarantined in the same area'
The department also disclosed that the new repatriates would
Of those under quarantine at New Clark City, Duque assured, "They are all well. 'Yung
The Filipino crew member aboard the Diamond Princess who tested negative for COVID-19 will also
Duque also disclosed that the number of Filipinos who remained on board who tested positive had already reached 44, a number he said was still subject to validation.
"I don't have the very granular details, so we will just have to wait," he said.
Amid earlier concerns that the first batch of repatriated overseas Filipino workers could contribute to the spread of the virus, the DOH assured the public that none of those quarantined showed any symptoms.
READ: How the OFWs repatriated from Wuhan, China
Medical teams
The Health department also disclosed they would bring medical personnel from various hospitals in Luzon to attend to the Filipinos heading home. There will be 16 hospitals.
Also present at the New Clark City will be teams of 10 comprising two doctors, four nurses, two nursing attendants and two utility workers.
Asked if these 10-member teams would be enough to fulfill the needs of the repatriates, Duque said, "I'm sure that will be the subject of the TWG meeting this afternoon."
- Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital
- Bataan General Hospital and Medical Center
- Dr. Paulino J. Garcia Memorial Research and Medical Center
- Talavera General Hospital
- Mariveles General Hospital
- Baguio General Hospital Medical Center
- East Avenue Medical Center
- Ilocos Training Regional Medical
- Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center
- Region 1 Medical Center
- Tondo Medical Center
- Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital
- Rizal Medical Center
- Southern Isabela General Hospital
- Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital & Medical Center
- Quirino Memorial Medical Center
- Valenzuela Medical Center
"We have to rotate our medical personnel [providing] health services," Duque said.
As for Filipinos who recover will also
"But in principle, if they want to
Follow this page for updates on a mysterious pneumonia outbreak that has struck dozens of people in China.
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says on Sunday that he had contracted COVID-19, testing positive at a key point in his flailing campaign for re-election.
Hipkins saYS on his official social media feed that he would need to isolate for up to five days -- less than two weeks before his country's general election.
The leader of the centre-left Labour Party said he started to experience cold symptoms on Saturday and had cancelled most of his weekend engagements. — AFP
The World Health Organization and US health authorities say Friday they are closely monitoring a new variant of COVID-19, although the potential impact of BA.2.86 is currently unknown.
The WHO classified the new variant as one under surveillance "due to the large number (more than 30) of spike gene mutations it carries", it wrote in a bulletin about the pandemic late Thursday.
So far, the variant has only been detected in Israel, Denmark and the United States. — AFP
The World Health Organization says on Friday that the number of new COVID-19 cases reported worldwide rose by 80% in the last month, days after designating a new "variant of interest".
The WHO declared in May that Covid is no longer a global health emergency, but has warned that the virus will continue to circulate and mutate, causing occasional spikes in infections, hospitalisations and deaths.
In its weekly update, the UN agency said that nations reported nearly 1.5 million new cases from July 10 to August 6, an 80% increase compared to the previous 28 days. — AFP
The head of US intelligence says that there was no evidence that the COVID-19 virus was created in the Chinese government's Wuhan research lab.
In a declassified report, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) says they had no information backing recent claims that three scientists at the lab were some of the very first infected with COVID-19 and may have created the virus themselves.
Drawing on intelligence collected by various member agencies of the US intelligence community (IC), the ODNI report says some scientists at the Wuhan lab had done genetic engineering of coronaviruses similar to COVID-19. — AFP
Boris Johnson deliberately misled MPs over Covid lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street when he was prime minister, a UK parliament committee ruled on Thursday.
The cross-party Privileges Committee said Johnson, 58, would have been suspended as an MP for 90 days for "repeated contempts (of parliament) and for seeking to undermine the parliamentary process".
But he avoided any formal sanction by his peers in the House of Commons by resigning as an MP last week.
In his resignation statement last Friday, Johnson pre-empted publication of the committee's conclusions, claiming a political stitch-up, even though the body has a majority from his own party.
He was unrepentant again on Thursday, accusing the committee of being "anti-democratic... to bring about what is intended to be the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination".
Calling it "beneath contempt", he said it was "for the people of this to decide who sits in parliament, not Harriet Harman", the veteran opposition Labour MP who chaired the seven-person committee. — AFP
- Latest
- Trending