A worker sprays disinfectant along a street near a public market in Manila on Wednesday. Photo: DPA
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https://scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3074775/coronavirus-philippines-president-rodrigo-duterte-undergo Southeast Asia
Coronavirus: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to undergo testing
- Duterte, 74, is in a vulnerable age group for the virus and will be tested as a precaution, his spokesman said
- It followed two of his key economic officials quarantining themselves after coming into contact with an infected person
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte pictured delivering a speech in July last year. Photo: EPA
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, 74, will be tested for the new coronavirus and his key economic officials – including the central bank governor and finance minister – are going into quarantine as infections in the country rise.
The Philippines has seen a jump this week in cases, including people who recently attended events with Senate lawmakers and government officials, potentially exposing them.
The central bank, finance department, the Senate and the Asian Development Bank will close from Thursday for disinfecting, they said in separate statements. The Department of Health said on Wednesday that a second person had died, out of the 49 confirmed cases of the virus in the country.
Open-market and settlement operations at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as well as servicing of banks’ cash withdrawals will continue as usual, the central bank said in a statement.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade separately said they will be going into quarantine after meeting with an infected person.
“No off-cycle meeting is contemplated,” Diokno said in a text message. He plans to participate remotely at the bank’s March 19 rate-setting meeting, saying “we have the technology”.
Duterte, who is in a vulnerable age group for the virus, does not have symptoms but has opted to undergo the test as a precaution, his spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement. “It is just prudent for us to take precautionary measures in compliance with the advice of our health officials,” he said, adding that he too would be tested
An inter-agency task force on emerging infectious diseases will meet on Thursday to discuss urgent measures amid the outbreak, Panelo said.
Duterte’s health has been a recurring source of speculation in the Philippines since in 2016 he became the oldest person elected as the country’s president. In October, he revealed that he suffers from an autoimmune disease that causes muscle weakness and blurred vision.
At least two senators will also go into isolation after a guest at a March 5 hearing was confirmed to be one of the country’s cases of Covid-19, as the disease caused by the virus is known. It could not be readily verified whether Dominguez, Tugade and the senators were exposed to the same person.
The Philippines’ benchmark stock index dropped 6.8 per cent at 11:08am local time on the news, its steepest decline since August 2015. The peso fell 0.9 per cent to 50.99 per dollar.
“The market is in risk-off mode. It’s about time your currency weakens in line with the regional currencies,” said D’Angelo Co, a foreign-exchange dealer at Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation in Manila.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse