Beware, Novel Coronavirus is here

By Leonardo Micua

AS of January 30, the Philippines registered its first case of the Novel Coronavirus, joining the league of more than 20 other countries across the globe earlier hit by this kind of virus that originated from Wuhan, City, in Hubei province in China where exotic foods like bats, snakes, and civets (wild cats) were reported to be special delicacies.

To date, Thursday, there are now 170 people who died and more than 7,784 infected by this virus worldwide since NCov surfaced and began to take its toll sometime in December 2019 in Wuhan, tagged as the epicenter of the epidemic, in China. 

The first confirmed case of NCov in the country is a 38-year old Chinese woman who came to the country as a tourist and who planed in from Wuhan City on January 21, according to Health Secretary Pincoy Duque in a press conference in Manila. 

The woman and her companions reportedly traveled to Cebu and Dumaguete City before she returned to Manila where she fell ill last January 25 and had since been considered a person under investigation.

Her specimen was confirmed by a laboratory in Victoria, Australia to be positive for NCov.

According to the Department of Health, there are now 31 other persons under investigation as possible carriers of NCov. To date, DOH is now doing the not so easy task of contact- tracing to find out who was with the woman in that flight to Manila from Wuhan and the persons she had come in contact with in Cebu, Dumaguete, and Manila before she was confined at the San Lazaro General Hospital after suffering from coughs, colds and fever.

If those contacts could be found, they are likely to be quarantined following the DOH procedure to keep the virus from spreading.    

In that press conference where he announced the first person tested positive of NCov in the Philippines, Secretary Duque recommended the temporary travel ban from Wuhan to Manila and vice versa in a bid to stop the virus from spreading into the country. It.is now President Duterte’s call whether to approve Duque’s recommendation. 

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The  New York Times reported that countries that already registered NCov cases as of Thursday niughtare China, with the biggest cases at 7,674; Thailand, 14; Japan, 11; Hong Kong and Singapore, 10 each; Taiwan, 8; Australia, Malaysia and Macau, 7 each; France, 5; South Korea, Germany, and United Arab Emirates, 4 each; Canada, 3; Vietnam, 2; and India, Philippines, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Finland, one each. And the number is still counting.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) already declared the epidemic as a global emergency, the New York Times reported.

On Thursday, Russia closed its border in the east because of the outbreak of NCov in neighboring China. 

As of this writing, many nations are bent on flying out their respective citizens from ground zero in Wuhan. These include Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and many others.  

I heard on radio on Thursday that a few Filipinos in Wuhan are digging in and have stocked up on foods to last them for days and hold out in their own apartments.

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Shortly after learning that the Philippines has registered its first positive case of NCov, many Dagupan residents rushed to their nearest drug stores to buy face masks. But many were disappointed and in rage to be told that their stock of face masks has run out.

Our own Rod tried to buy masks from different drug stores along A.B. Fernandez Avenue but returned to the office empty-handed. My wife even went to Mercury Drug and was told it had no more face masks to sell. 

Where will the people of Dagupan and Pangasinan now go to buy face masks if even the biggest drug store chain Mercury already has nothing more to sell?

If the drugstores are really telling the truth, the manufacturer of this item may have prioritized on exporting its product to China where face masks are needed more than we do. It is a fact that some facemasks in the Philippines landed a few days ago in China. 

There were also some frenzy buying of face masks weeks ago when Taal Volcano was still erupting. Or could the drugstores reserving their remaining stocks for themselves and their relatives who need to be protected too from the NCov?

Jay Mendoza, manager of DZRD Sonshine Radio and KBP chairman in Pangasinan, was luckier. He bought some face masks for him and his staff from as far as San Fernando City, La Union.

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