List workers with China travel history, Makati orders firms

MAKATI, Philippines — The Makati City government yesterday ordered businesses in the city, including Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), to name their employees with a history of traveling to China amid the spread of the novel coronavirus (nCoV).

Mayor Abby Binay asked for the cooperation of the businesses as the city government works to put in place measures to prevent the disease from spreading.

The office of the city administrator has ordered all business and commercial establishments to file the names of their employees who visited China, Hong Kong and Macau with the city government, it said in a statement yesterday.

The city government said it will revoke the business licenses of firms that fail to comply.

The virus is said to have originated in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province in China.

Binay previously ordered a committee to inspect businesses and conduct information campaigns on nCoV.

The city’s health department has been using infrared thermometers to check the body temperatures of employees and visitors at the city hall and barangay centers.

The city government has also converted its hostels called Friendship Suites into isolation areas where people found to be positive for nCoV would be brought. No nCoV case has been recorded in Makati so far.

2 Pasay concerts to push through

Meanwhile, two concerts by foreign performers will push through in Pasay City despite the nCoV threat, accoring to the city government.

K-pop group Seventeen’s concert will push through at the Mall of Asia Arena tomorrow but its organizer, Pulp Live, requested concert goers to come early.

The concert of 1990s boy band 98 Degrees was moved from Feb. 25 to May 21.

The cancelled events were the Acer Predator League 2020 and a convention of the Tzu Chi Foundation.

Yesterday, Pasay Mayor Emi Calixto-Rubiano asked organizers to “help ensure the safety of patrons, performers and all other persons involved in these events from the 2019 nCoV and other health concerns.”

“Pasay... is a regular host-city of big local and international events such as concerts, stage acts, conventions and others which are usually attended by thousands of people. We must therefore exert all efforts to ensure safety as well as convenience for everybody involved in these events,” she said. 

Rubiano said event organizers should use forehead thermometers, place hand sanitizers in strategic locations and maintain the cleanliness of event venues.

Aguilar to meet with POGOs

In Las Piñas, Mayor Imelda Aguilar said yesterday she is set to meet with representatives of POGOs to make sure that their workers who went home to China for the Lunar New Year do not have nCoV.

Las Piñas has no reported nCoV cases so far.

Aguilar directed city health officer Dr. Ferdinand Eusebio to train all medical personnel on how to handle nCoV cases.

She also underscored the importance of accurate information to prevent the spread of nCoV.

Aguilar also reminded the city’s 20 barangays of the Department of the Interior and Local Government directive to form their respective Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams and visit households of travelers arriving from countries affected by nCoV and record the daily body temperatures of the travelers, who will be under home confinement, for the next 14 days. – With Ralph Edwin Villanueva