Tag: coronavirus

CDC faces challenge of Coronavirus outbreak in US

  By Arlene Ocampo and Jessieca Bautista EBC Washington D.C.Bureau WASHINGTON, DC (Eagle News) – The latest and primary concern in the international and domestic medical world today is the rapid outbreak of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus. From its origin in Wuhan, China, the virus, scientifically named 2019-nCoV, has spread to about 18 locations around the world including Europe and the United States. Most of those who have been infected were associated with travel from […]

Papua New Guinea bans travellers from all ‘Asian ports’ due to coronavirus scare

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AFP) — Papua New Guinea shut air and seaports to all foreign travellers coming from Asia on Wednesday, in a desperate bid to prevent the deadly coronavirus from reaching the impoverished Melanesian nation. In a note to airlines and boat operators, the ministry of immigration said “all citizens originating from the Asian ports will be refused entry to the country effective today”. The ministry also announced that Papua New Guinea’s […]

WHO chief, President Xi meet in Beijing; agree on entry of int’l experts into China to help stem virus epidemic

  (Eagle News) – China and the World Health Organization (WHO) both agreed to have international experts visit the country which is now at the center of the deadly 2019 novel coronavirus that has so far claimed more than 130 lives. This was the consensus in a meeting held on Tuesday, Jan. 28, between WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. The two officials “shared the latest information on […]

“Game changer for diagnosis” – Australian scientists ‘first to grow’ new coronavirus outside China

  SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Scientists in Australia have successfully replicated the deadly Wuhan coronavirus, in what they said would be a “game changer” in the fight against a deadly epidemic which has stricken thousands. The Doherty Institute in Melbourne announced Wednesday that it had grown the novel coronavirus in cell culture from a patient sample, the first time the virus has been replicated outside China. “Having the real virus means we now have the […]

US developing vaccine against deadly China virus: officials

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States said Tuesday it was developing a vaccine against a deadly virus that originated in China, and urged Beijing to step up its cooperation with international health authorities. The US government is keen to place its own teams on the ground to review the raw data and learn more about the pathogen, which has so far claimed more than 100 lives. “We have already started at the NIH […]

DOJ: Special team to handle immigration procedures for Filipinos returning from Hubei, China

(Eagle News) — A special team of officers will handle immigration procedures for Filipinos returning from Hubei, China, where Wuhan, the seat of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, is situated. According to Justice spokesperson Markk Perete, the officers will be provided protective gear. He said they have also been briefed by the Bureau of Quarantine. On Wednesday, the Department of Health said Filipinos from China could return provided they undergo a 14-day quarantine upon […]

DOH: Still no confirmed 2019-nCoV case in PHL; 4 of 27 PUIs discharged

(Eagle News) — The Department of Health on Wednesday, Jan. 29, said there was still no confirmed case of the novel coronavirus in the country, noting that four of the 27 people the agency had said were closely being monitored had already been discharged. Of the 23 persons now under investigation, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said 17 were in the National Capital Region, one in Western Visayas, one in Mimaropa, one in Eastern Visayas, […]

Foreigners flown out of China virus epicenter as death toll hits 132

  by Sébastien RICCI Agence France Presse WUHAN, China (AFP) — Hundreds of Americans and Japanese escaped the quarantined Chinese city at the center of a viral epidemic aboard charter flights on Wednesday, as the death toll soared to 132 and confirmed infections neared 6,000. The scale of the deepening crisis was emphasized with the new infection number on the Chinese mainland exceeding that of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2002-03. SARS, […]

Germany confirms first human transmission of China virus; first human-to-human transmission in Europe

  A German man who contracted the novel strain of coronavirus was infected by a colleague visiting from China, officials said on Tuesday, in what appeared to be the first human-to-human transmission in Europe. Other confirmed cases in Europe of the viral outbreak have so far involved patients who had recently been to China. In this instance, the 33-year-old German attended a training session held by a visiting Chinese colleague on January 21 at the […]

Asian nations try to shield against deadly outbreak

  Asian nations were ramping up defences against a deadly viral epidemic Tuesday, sealing borders, shuttering public places and clamping down on visitors from China. Concern over the steadily expanding contagion, which has killed over 100 in China and sickened more than 4,500, is prompting an increasingly urgent push for protection. Hong Kong, which has eight reported cases of the SARS-like disease, announced the sealing of six of its 14 border crossings to the mainland […]

Current suspected nCoV cases in PHL jump to 24, with 18 in NCR; but DOH assures no confirmed case yet

  (Eagle News) – There are at least 27 persons in the country who have been considered “patients under investigation” (PUIs) for the novel coronavirus infection, and three of them so far have been discharged from hospitals after results showed they are negative of the disease, the Department of Health said. This brings to 24 the current suspected novel coronavirus infections in the country which are still awaiting confirmatory test results from either the Reasearch […]

DFA official on possible repatriation of Filipinos in China: President Duterte’s order is to “bring home everyone”

(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte has issued an order “to bring home everyone” in China, a Department of Foreign Affairs official said on Tuesday, Jan. 28. “That’s the order of the President, to bring home everyone. And we will bring everyone home safely,” Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Brigido Dulay said in a press conference, as Chinese health authorities reported a spike to over 100 in the deaths from the novel coronavirus in the Asian country. […]