MANILA, Feb 10, INQUIRER/ANN — The Philippines on Sunday evacuated 30 of its citizens from Wuhan city in China’s Hubei province, the epicenter of a new coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 900 people and infected about 40,000 in the mainland and spread to 26 other countries.
A chartered Royal Air flight arranged by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Health (DOH) flew 29 adults and an infant to Clark International Airport in Pampanga province, where they were transferred into buses that brought them to the nearby Athletes’ Village in New Clark City in Tarlac province for health monitoring over the next two weeks.
More than 50 Filipinos in Wuhan had asked to be taken home after China locked down the city and the rest of Hubei as cases piled up. But 15 were unable to leave because of documentation problems. The others “weighed what was happening, ” including the addition of more hospital beds, in Wuhan, the DFA said.