Baguio City was the summer capital of the Philippines wherein many tourist would go up all the way from different provinces just to cool their mind, body and especially to attend and watch the Panagbebenga festival-“season of blooming.”
In January 31, Friday, Mayor Benjamin Magalong announced the cancellation of all big public activities in Baguio due to the threat caused by the novel corona virus. These includes the very popular opening of Panagbenga Festival on February 1, Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Games on February 15, and Sunday openings of Session Road, but the small event like weddingd, conferences, and others would still go on.
Mayor Magalong said that he would still see if the street dancing and floating parade would push through by February 29 and March 1. He said “The tourism revenues are the least of my concerns. My main priorities are the health of my constituents.” The desicion to cancel these events was reached after a meeting on friday morning with the health authorities and the members of the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation. He said that the cancellation of the Panagbenga opening parade would not mean the suspension of classes in the college level.
Mayor Magalong reiterates his pronouncement that Baguio City is not on lockdown only the postponement of government sponsored events that would attract large crowds in the next three weeks was announced as a preventive measure against the 2019 novel corona virus. The confirmed death toll in China rose to 490 on Wednesday as millions of people in the country were ordered to stay indoors.
The virus has spread to more 20 nations, prompting several governments, including our country Philippines, to implement travel restrictions and airlines to suspend flights from China. They reported Sunday the first death outside China was a man from virus epicenter Wuhan. The number of individuals being monitored for possible nCoV stood at 105, latest DOH data showed.
“If you are sneezing with colds and feverish, I ask you to stay home and avoid crowds,” Dr. Rowena Galpo told the media during a forum at the Baguio City Hall.
Galpo said they already made the advisories and cautioned residents and tourists here while also telling the to take precautionary measures so as not to contract or spread the deadly virus, its transmission is almost assured at close contacts. Galpo also asked the locals to practice a healthy lifestyle, avoid smoking and reduce drinking as well as have regular exercise to remain fit and healthy to be disease resistant.
Basic hygienic practices must be observed too like hand washing every now and then. She also said advisory to the hotel owners and managers to be more vigilant and report if there are suspected cases among their guests, especially foreigners or those who came from countries that have reported case of coronavirus.
They should know of the guest travel history if they came from a country which has reported cases of corona virus infection. “We urge them to report cases so we will know what we can do,” she said.
Their office has an established system. First is surveillance and if there is a case, then they would isolate the person, then have him or tested, and finally observed the people he or she contact with the past days. The observation is usually from 14 to 20 days and if the contacts show any flu like symptoms the hopefully not, there is already an infection.
Department of Health-Cordillera (Kagawaran Ng Kalusugan – Cordillera) Infectious Disease Cluster Head Dr. Jennifer Joyce Pira said that there are no persons under investigation (PUI) with regards to the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
Pira said the DOH-CAR only monitored an individual who arrived from Guangzhou, China but has no history of travel to Wuhan, China and without any known contact with a confirmed 2019-nCoV case. The person also has no known contact with individuals with severe acute respiratory illness or sick animals.
She said that although the individual and two of his roommates are under quarantine, they are all doing well and show no signs of illnesses.
The DOH-CAR stressed that there are no cases of 2019-nCoV in the Cordillera region to date.
The highland towns of Atok in Benguet province and Tinglayan in Kalinga have temporarily closed tourist attractions as part of heightened precautions against the novel coronavirus.
The local government of Atok has suspended all tourism activities in the municipality, which is home to a number of flower farms such as the Northern Blossom Flower Farm and Haight’s Place, which have been attracting local and foreign tourists. Atok Mayor Raymundo Sarac ordered the temporary closure of these farms starting February 6 until further notice amid the outbreak of the new coronavirus called 2019-nCoV.
Meanwhile, Tinglayan Mayor Sacrament Gumilab early this week directed all local policemen and barangay officials to put up checkpoints especially in Barangay Buscalan “to ban all tourists from entering the municipality.”
Tourists come to the remote village of Buscalan to meet Apo Whang-od, the Philippines’ oldest mambabatok or traditional Kalinga tattoo artist. The municipal government of Tinglayan has also set up a task force to prevent the spread of nCoV.
The Department of Health said there is no confirmed case of the novel coronavirus in the Cordillea region, but a total of four people are “under investigation” for possible infection – two from Benguet, and one each from Mountain Province and Baguio City.
There are now three confirmed cases of the nCov in the Philippines – all of them Chinese visitors. One of them, a 44-year-old man, died due to acute respiratory disease caused by the virus.
People with a history of travel from Wuhan, a Chinese city where the virus originated, and those who had contact with infected people are considered “persons under investigation” especially if they show influenza-like symptoms such as fever, cough, and cold. The Department of Health is awaiting test results of 127 persons under investigation.
Cold weather also decreases the bodily defenses, allowing viruses to enter the body with ease. But so far, Baguio is safe from the dreaded coronavirus.
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