Zamboanga City is not ready to fight the coronavirus on an outbreak level, thus said Acting Zamboanga Mayor Atty. Rommel Agan.
He stressed that the city’s public hospitals can only accommodate a little number of patients, but not on a large scale.
He said there are isolation rooms at the Zamboanga City Medical Center (ZCMC) and at the General Hospital in Barangay Pasobolong but on a limited scale.
Last week, Agan met with health authorities to thresh out different concerns, especially with regards to the thousands of Filipino repatriates from Malaysia who are being deported to the city before they are sent back to their respective provinces.
City Health Officer Dr. Dulce Amor Miravite said it poses a great concern to the city’s populace because Malaysia has already announced of the coronavirus in their country.
“The Filipino ‘halaws’ could be infected there and might bring the virus to our shore that is why we need to stay healthy. Take a bath daily, wash our hands after going from the toilet, do not stay in a large crowd, cover our nose with mask and carry alcohol as disinfectant and take vitamins,” Miravite advised.
She said it is the concern of everybody to do everything in order to prevent the entry of the dreaded virus in the city.
According to Miravite, when the virus enters one’s body, it is asymptomatic which means the person afflicted will not show signs of the disease until it’s too late.
“This is why we request residents who just came from abroad, specially from China to have their health checked. Do this before it’s too late”, Miravite emphasized.