Philippines evacuates 30 from coronavirus-hit Wuhan

Thirty Filipinos returned to the Philippines on Sunday from Wuhan City in China’s Hubei province, the epicenter of a coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 800 in the mainland, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

Twenty-nine adults and an infant flew on a chartered flight arranged by the foreign affairs and health departments which landed in Clark Air Base, located about 40 miles northwest of the capital, Manila.

The returning passengers and a 10-member government team were transferred from the plane into buses that brought them to the nearby Athlete’s Village in New Clark City in Tarlac province for a 14-day quarantine, the DFA said in a statement.

There were about 300 Filipinos in Hubei, based on the Philippine government’s estimate, but it said not all had wanted to be evacuated.

The Philippines has reported three positive cases of the coronavirus infection in the country, including a 44-year-old Chinese man who had travelled from Wuhan and died in a government-run hospital in Manila after developing severe pneumonia.

There were more than 230 “patients under investigation” for coronavirus infection in the country as of Saturday, including around 100 in Manila, according to the health department.