By Analou De Vera The government’s Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) is not yet recommending travel restrictions to Italy, Iran, Japan, and Singapore despite the increasing number of 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in those areas, the Department of Health said Wednesday. Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III (Facebook) "After giving the IATF-EID the health risk assessments, the decision was not to include them in the travel ban...The IATF-EID believes that imposing travel bans are not yet called for, for now," Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III said in a press briefing. Duque, meanwhile, said this decision is still subject to change. "The DOH is doing day-to-day assessment of the situations so it may still change." The Philippine government imposed a total travel ban to and from mainland China and partial travel restrictions on South Korea, Macau, and Hong Kong. Macau repatriation The Filipinos who are set to be repatriated from Macau will be treated as persons under monitoring (PUMs) and will only be put under home quarantine. "The local governments will be monitoring them for fever, cough, colds, and other symptoms," he said. The DOH on Tuesday said the IATF-EID approved the plan for the Department of Foreign Affairs to repatriate 148 Filipinos from Macau via chartered flight as well as for the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to repatriate 48 active OWWA members via commercial flight. Repatriates at the New Clark City Health Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said there were 16 repatriates from the M/V Diamond Princess cruise ship that have already manifested symptoms of respiratory illness. Vergeire noted that 15 of them have tested negative for COVID-19. All of them are now asymptomatic and were brought back to the Athlete’s Village in New Clark City (NCC) in Capas, Tarlac to complete their 14-day mandatory quarantine period. The remaining repatriate who manifested symptoms is still being monitored, Vergeire said. "We have one additional case that is still being tested and monitored. He had diarrhea and had to be brought to a referral hospital." Some 445 Filipinos were repatriated from the M/V Diamond Princess cruise ship last Feb. 25. They are currently quarantined in NCC, together with the 13 others who are members of the Philippine repatriation team, bringing the total of persons under quarantine to 458.