Bacolod City – Following the Department of Health’s (DOH) announcement of the first confirmed case of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019 nCoV) in the country, residents in this city have reportedly started “panic-buying” facemasks from local pharmacies.
Shopkeepers and pharmacists of drugstores from across the metro said their supply of both flu and N95 masks has sold out since Jan. 30 up to this writing.
Councilor Cindy Rojas, chairperson of the committee on health, urged the public to buy only the necessary number of facemasks and let others acquire them, too.
Rojas warned those who plan to take advantage of the situation to stop as the city government aims to deploy personnel that will monitor the prices of the masks.
Meanwhile, Executive Assistant Joemarie Vargas, cluster head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, said they have started their preparations against the 2019-nCoV and the city’s ambulance has been designated to transport any patients who showed suspected signs of the coronavirus infection.
Two health workers from the city government have undergone training with the DOH on how to deal with the said medical emergency.
Rojas and Vargas encouraged the public to remain calm as they assured residents that the city government is conducting measures to prevent the entry of the virus in Negros Occidental.
On Thursday, Health secretary Francisco Duque III confirmed the first case of the 2019-nCoV from a Chinese patient from Wuhan, China who was confined at a hospital in Manila./PN
