MANILA, Philippines — More than 200 Filipinos in Macau have signified intentions to go back to the Philippines as cases of COVID-19 continues to rise in China, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Wednesday.
Macau is one of two special administrative regions of China, the other being Hong Kong.
“We are aware of the possibility na mula sa (that from) Macau may kababayan na nagpapa-repatriate sa Pilipinas (some of our countrymen there wants to be repatriated),” Nograles, ex-officio member of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), said during the press briefing at the Department of Health (DOH) office.
“It started with 210 but now dumami na nang dumami ‘yung ano (more and more want to), maybe tomorrow we can have a clearer assessment ‘yung (of the) number na nag-signify ‘yung mga kapwa nating kababayan (of people) who want to be repatriated,” he added.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and DOH already repatriated 445 Filipino crewmen and tourists in the isolated Diamond Princess cruise ship that has been hit by the new virus in Japan.
The government also evacuated Filipinos from Wuhan city of Hubei province in China, which is the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Currently, the government imposed travel restrictions on mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau.
Globally, the novel coronavirus has already infected more than 80,000 people. Of which, 78,064 are from China, 81 are from Hong Kong while 10 are from Macau.