With Coronavirus threat, DFA urges campers in Saudi to move into PHL govt shelters



While there are no reports yet of any Filipino in Saudi Arabia being infected by the deadly Coronavirus, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Tuesday urged undocumented Filipinos camping outside the Philippine missions in Riyadh and Jeddah to move into Philippine government-run shelters.

“The condition at the campsites, despite our best effort, is still conducive to the spread of disease because of the heat and congestion. Please do not put yourselves and your children at risk,” Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez told a press briefing on Tuesday.

Philippine officials in Saudi have been providing basic sanitation requirements such as portable toilets, water, garbage bags and diapers to those Filipinos who have set up camps outside the DFA’s diplomatic offices since April in a bid to seek protection against Saudi’s ongoing crackdown on illegal foreign workers.

“Those who fall ill are also given immediate medical attention,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez called on Filipinos in the Kingdom to follow the advice of the Saudi Health Ministry and other relevant authorities.

He said the Philippine embassy and consulate have issued an advisory detailing the symptoms of the disease and the preventive measures that Filipinos in Saudi Arabia can take.

“If they feel any of the disease’s symptoms, they should not take any chances. We advise them to go to a doctor as soon as possible,” Hernandez said.

Saudi Arabia is home to at least one million Filipino workers. 

Meanwhile, three more people have died in Saudi Arabia from the new SARS-like coronavirus, bringing the worldwide death toll to 30, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

The Reuters news agency said Saudi health officials also told the WHO of a new case in the eastern province of al-Ahsa, increasing the number of cases worldwide to 50, WHO spokesman Glenn Thomas told reporters at a news conference in Geneva.

The latest deaths were also in al-Ahsa, Thomas said.

Saudi Arabia has been the most affected by the virus, with 39 cases and 25 deaths so far, according to data from the WHO, a United Nations agency.

The virus, which can cause coughing, fever and pneumonia, has spread from the Gulf to France, Britain and Germany. The WHO has called it the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

It is from the same viral family that triggered the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that swept the world in late 2003 and killed 775 people. - with a report from Reuters, VVP, GMA News

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