Following reports that the Wuhan virus or the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) could be transmitted even while the carrier is still asymptomatic, Senator Dick Gordon, chairman and CEO of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), called for intensified screening of all travelers entering through the country’s air and seaports.
Gordon said that while the country should remain open to tourists, the public needs to be protected hence he proposed having a separate lane for travelers coming from China and other countries where there are reported positive or presumed positive cases of the virus which has already claimed 106 lives in China and has infected 4,578 people in China and 18 other countries.
“For our country to remain safe, we should be on our guard.”
“It is good that the country is still generally safe. However, for our country to remain so, we should be on our guard. All incoming travelers should be made to undergo tighter screening procedures. If, as reports said, the nCOV can be transmitted during its 14-day incubation period, we should conduct more than just thermal scanning on travelers. Travel history of passengers, especially for the past three weeks, should be disclosed,” the veteran legislator said.
“Travel history of passengers, especially for the past three weeks, should be disclosed.”
The seasoned lawmaker is proposing a temporary and partial lockdown, out-rightly denying entry to travelers with a history of travel especially to Hubei Province where Wuhan is the capital and other hard-hit areas in the said country within at least two to three weeks prior to their arrival in the Philippines.
“While the country should not be closed to foreign tourists, the Filipino people should be protected from the threat that incoming passengers with a travel history to Hubei, especially Wuhan, the ground zero, would bring,” the senator said.
The Philippine Immigration Bureau also ordered the suspension of “visa upon arrival” or VUA issuance to Chinese nationals amid the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus worldwide.