2 ships from China docked in Manila declared clear from novel coronavirus
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard cleared two recently docked ships that came from China after they were declared safe from the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019 nCoV) on Tuesday.
The first of these was the World Dream Cruise Ship from Hong Kong, succeeded by the MV Ligulao which came from mainland China's Lianyungang, Jiangsu on Monday.
According to Coast Guard, the passengers and crew of both ships, which were docked at the Port of Manila, were subjected to mandatory inspections.
The Coast Guard said that the former should have had some 4,000 passengers on board until its crew instead opted not to take in any more passengers from the mainland.
World Dream's 778 passengers were "authorized to travel" by the Bureau of Quarantine, reports said.
The passengers were reportedly set to travel to Subic Bay aboard the ship on Wednesday, but Mayor Jonathan John Khonghun of the municipality of Subic, Zambales directed the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority not to accept any more cruise ships due to the threat of 2019 nCoV.
As for MV Ligulao, the BOQ told reporters that while the ship's 20 crewmen were declared free of 2019 nCoV, they were still prohibited from disembarking the ship as they were not able to present the necessary shore passes.
In an earlier statement, the Department of Transportation said it instructed all airports and seaports to tighten their security to safeguard against the possible entry of carriers of the new virus.
On Tuesday, Sen. Francis Pangilinan in a statement called for a preemptive ban on visitors coming from Wuhan, China, the virus' epicenter, citing the number of deaths it had already caused worldwide and the many tourists from mainland China that had come to visit the Philippines the year before.
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