By Tara Yap and Marie Tonette Marticio
Despite the lockdown, an outbound flight from Kalibo International Airport in Aklan province will bring back Chinese tourists who visited the popular beach destination of Boracay Island to Wuhan, the Chinese city where the 2019 novel coronavirus (nCoV) first emerged.
Passengers wear masks as they arrive at Manila's international airport, Philippines, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Engr. Eusebio Monserate Jr., acting chief of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) in Kalibo, confirmed there will be outbound flights to Wuhan starting Saturday evening, January 25.
“The airline will bring out Chinese passengers,” Monserate told the Manila Bulletin on Friday.
“These will be outbound flights, but there are no more incoming flights from Wuhan landing in Kalibo anymore,” Monserate said.
There are only two airlines—Pan Pacific Airline and Royal Air Charter— that have flights between Kalibo and Wuhan.
Dr. Cornelio Cuachon Jr., chief of the Aklan Provincial Health Office (APPO), said the 135 Chinese tourists were cleared by the Bureau of Quarantine of the Department of Health (DOH).
“They were not feverish and did not show any other symptoms related to nCoV,” Cuachon explained.
Since late last week, three Chinese nationals underwent quarantine while a Filipina flight attendant also chose to undergo quarantine after arriving at Kalibo Airport from Wuhan.
“None of those who underwent quarantine tested positive for the nCoV. Again, there are no positive cases in the country,” Cuachon reiterated. (With a report from Noreen Jazul)
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