Last week was quite a shocker. We practically had done nothing else but monitor if the novel Coronavirus had already entered our City and Province. We had a lot of down time, and many businesses went dry. Many tricycle drivers reported near-zero income.
The good news is that those who were placed under monitoring/investigation as possible 2019 nCoV patients have been found negative of the virus.
It seems we have stopped an outbreak of a possible epidemic in our midst.
In the Philippines, we still do not have any report of a Filipino contracting the dreaded virus. We have placed over 200 individuals in the nCoV watchlist but so far, none have been found positive.
However, if you look at the global statistics, a total of 28,276 have been confirmed to have the virus, with 28,060 in China alone, as of Feb. 6. The number could still go higher, as you read this.
Outside China, there have been 216 positive cases of nCoV, as of Feb. 6.
These figures mean that while we in Negros Oriental are on our way back to normalcy, we’re not totally out of the woods.
We need to continue being vigilant by monitoring those who enter our airport and seaports.
We express our heartfelt appreciation to our health personnel who have been working round the clock to keep all of us safe.