MANILA - The governor of Negros Oriental on Friday said all visitors from mainland China must undergo a 14-day quarantine upon arrival in the province.
This, after officials confirmed that the Philippines' first case of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) visited the province's city of Dumaguete recently.
Gov. Roel Degamo also included travelers from Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, in the quarantine order.
On Thursday, the Department of Health (DOH) said a 38-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan, China -- the epicenter of the outbreak -- was confirmed to be infected with the virus following a laboratory test in Australia.
DOH spokesperson Eric Domingo said that from Wuhan, the woman flew to Hong Kong then hopped on a flight to Cebu. She then took a flight to Dumaguete, and from there to Manila.
The woman took Cebu Pacific, Cebgo and Philippine Airlines flights respectively throughout that travel, said Domingo.
Authorities said they are looking for flight passengers who came in close contact with the Chinese woman. For each of these flights, authorities have to trace the passengers who were up to 4 seats away from the patient, DOH chief Francisco Duque III said.
The death toll in China from the new coronavirus reached 213 on Friday, with overall cases worldwide rising rapidly in an outbreak that the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency.
- with a report from Martian Muyco, ABS-CBN News
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