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PH better prepared now than in SARS, but nCoV threat greater: ex-health chief

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Aleta Nieva-Nishimori, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2020/tvpatrol/01/27/20200201-mask.jpg"/><figcaption>People scramble to buy face masks in a medical supply store a day after Philippine government confirmed the first novel coronavirus case, in Manila, January 31, 2020. Eloisa Lopez, Reuters</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA - A former health secretary on Thursday said the government must beef up its efforts in containing the spread of the fast moving 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), as this is a harder battle than the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). &quot;The capacity of government during SARS and now is maybe 2 or 3 times greater. its better, but the threat seems 5 to 10 times more,&quot; said Dr. Manuel Dayrit.Dayrit, who headed the health department during the SARS outbreak in 2002, said the 2019-nCoV is much more explosive than SARS.In SARS, Dayrit said for every 10 infected person, 1 died. But in the new coronavirus, 2 died for every 100 infected person.&quot;But that could change as the virus spreads very, very rapidly. Many people get infected but not everybody dies. The case fatality, as they say-- which is the fraction of those who died over those who are infected--may be smaller. But actually, you have a large number of cases. In the end, you&#x27;d still have a significant number of deaths,&quot; Dayrit said in an interview on ANC&#x27;s Headstart.The 2019-nCoV has killed over 500 people and infected some 27,300 mostly in China.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/02/04/20/timeline-the-new-coronavirus-outbreak">TIMELINE: The new coronavirus outbreak</a></li></ul>Comparing it to the SARS outbreak, Dayrit said it took about 3 months before it reached Hong Kong. In the case of the coronavirus, the cases spiraled far, exceeding the total for SARS.&quot;In SARS, we had 8000 cases worldwide over 9 months. For coronavirus, we have 20,000 already in a month,&quot; he said.In the Philippines, there are 133 patients under observation for possible coronavirus infection. Health authorities are also tracing people who came in close contact with three Chinese patients with confirmed 2019-nCoV cases.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/multimedia/infographic/01/29/20/mers-cov-vs-sars-vs-2019-ncov-fatality-rates">MERS-CoV vs SARS vs 2019-nCoV: Fatality rates</a></li></ul>With the experience in handling the SARS outbreak, Dayrit shared that its all about capacity.&quot;You&#x27;d have to think of it in terms of component for controlling an epidemic,&quot; Dayrit said. He said the first one should be preventing the entry of imported cases. &quot;Don&#x27;t load the country with a lot of tourists particularly from Wuhan which is the epicenter,&quot; he said.The virus originated from the Chinese City of Wuhan in Hubei Province. The city has since been on a lockdown.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/03/20/philippine-travel-ban-covers-transit-passengers-bi">Philippine travel ban covers transit passengers: BI</a></li></ul>&quot;Now, people are sort of used to this outbreaks. They travel. It’s a different context. At that time, we didn&#x27;t initiate a travel ban there, nobody travelling that much. But now people are travelling even when they&#x27;re in the face of an outbreak,&quot; he said.Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause infections ranging from the common cold to SARS. Some of the virus types cause less severe disease, while some - like the one that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) - are far more severe.No local transmission has been reported in the Philippines as the 3 confirmed cases are imported from Wuhan City.&quot;If we get local transmission here, every infected case then has the potential of multiplying. For n-CoV, they say the reproductive rate is about 3, which is 1 person can infect 3 other people and those 3 other people can in turn infect 3 other people each...and therefore can be an exponential spread,&quot; he said.The way to stop it from spreading he said is to isolate infected persons.&quot;My fear here is if you get local transmission and get a significant number of cases say 10, 15, 20, 30 and you have it in a place that doesn&#x27;t have enough isolation rooms, then you&#x27;re in trouble,&quot; he said.While authorities need to prevent the entry of imported cases, they also need to prevent local transmission that imported case may actually cause, he stressed.

A former health secretary on Thursday said the government must beef up its efforts in containing the spread of the fast moving 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), as this is a harder battle than the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

A former health secretary on Thursday said the government must beef up its efforts in containing the spread of the fast moving 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), as this is a harder battle than the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

PH better prepared now than in SARS, but nCoV threat greater: ex-health chief

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PH better prepared now than in SARS, but nCoV threat greater: ex-health chief

Aleta Nieva-Nishimori,

ABS-CBN News

Published Feb 06, 2020 06:10 PM PHT

|

Updated Feb 06, 2020 07:27 PM PHT

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Manuel Dayrit

SARS

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outbreak

n-CoV

coronavirus

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