Fear

PHILIPPINES - In Brief 03 Feb 2020 by Romeo Bernardo

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On February 2, as news broke of its first death from the coronavirus, the Philippine government decided to restrict entry of travelers coming from China, Hongkong and Macau. Those covered by the temporary ban include all foreign nationals without permanent resident visas who are either coming in directly from those places or have been there within 14 days from their arrival; Filipinos and foreign residents would have to undergo a 14-day quarantine. Too, all Filipinos are temporarily banned from traveling to the 3 localities. The official directive, issued 3 days after the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus (nCoV) a global health emergency, has become necessary as the number of confirmed infections reached over 14,000 in 23 countries, far more than over 8000 infections from the SARS epidemic in 2003. The death yesterday was the Philippine’s second confirmed coronavirus infection (and the first recorded death outside China) with 23 more people currently under observation, per local health officials.While health officials are trying to calm rising fears of infection, economic managers are trying to soothe market fears of the coronavirus’s economic effects. As it is, the key stock index has dropped 5.5% last week and market talk has tended to dwell on the expanding list of negative news affecting corporate profits. For sure, with thousands of tourists already barred from entry at terminal gates, the latest health scare will have adverse short-term impact on service industries linked to tourism, including the transportation, retail and hospitality sectors. In the case of the 2003 SARS epidemic, the number we’ve seen of the overall impact on Philippine ...