President Duterte said it would be hard to suspend travels to China despite the increasing number of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) spreading outside Asia’s giant.
“Mahirap yang ano, sabihin mong you suspend everything because they are not also suspending theirs and they continue to respect the freedom flights that we enjoy,” Duterte told reporters in an ambush interview.
Health Secretary Francisco Dutque also expressed reluctance in banning Chinese nationals from entering the country.
“If we do this, then the concerned country — China in this case — might question why we’re not doing the same for other countries that have reported confirmed cases of novel coronavirus,” Duque said during a hearing at the House of Representatives.
The DOH is intensifying surveillance though on travellers who exhibited symptoms of the virus. They have expanded the strict monitoring of visitors from the entire Hubei province, not just in Wuhan city.
As of Wednesday, China said132 people had died from the virus, from 106 the day before. The total number of confirmed cases rose sharply to 7711 on Thursday.
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has already issued a travel advisory, warning Americans against non-essential travel to China.
Hong Kong also reduced by half the number of flights and shut down its rail service to mainland China.
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