CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – An official of Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) in Northern Mindanao expected a decrease in passenger volume in airports in the region ahead of the “community quarantine” as ordered by Pres. Rodrigo Duterte amid the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) scare.
Ariel Paderan, CAAP spokesperson, in an interview Friday (March 13), said they are anticipating the number of passengers to go down by as much as 50 percent due to Duterte’s order to put Metro Manila on lockdown.
He said there are more than 20 flights to and from Manila daily in CAAP-10’s three airports–Laguindingan, Camiguin, and Ozamiz.
In a previous interview, Job de Jesus, Laguindingan Airport manager, said they have about 6,000 passengers and an average of 58 flights a day.
Paderan said the decision to cancel flights will come from the Civil Aeronautics Board or from CAAP.
“The cancellation of flights will affect the revenue of the airport, as we will only be catering to flights to and from Davao, Zamboanga, Cebu, Clark and other areas once the lockdown is in effect,” he said.
A meeting between CAAP-10 and airline companies was scheduled Friday afternoon to discuss procedures once the lockdown is implemented this Sunday (March 15).
The Department of Health-10 (DOH-10), in a statement, reported that as of March 13, a total of 25 patients under investigation (PUIs) have been recorded from Jan. 22.
Of this, four are currently admitted at the state-run Northern Mindanao Medical Center, where one was tested positive for Covid-19 and three were reclassified as severe acute respiratory infection.
The remaining 18 were tested negative and were already discharged. All tests were performed by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa City.
“Our lone positive Covid-19 case admitted in NMMC is taken care of by our health workers in the best way we could,” said DOH-10, dispelling rumors circulating in the city that that patient has died. (davaotoday.com)
