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An essay
In Partial Fulfillment
of the requirements in
Research Project
March 2020
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are common in people and many different
species of animals including camels, cattle, cats and bats. They are called coronaviruses because
a crown of spike proteins had been exhibited around the particle’s lipid envelope. Based on the
report written by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2020), the strains of CoV can be
zoonotic which means that it can be transmitted between animals and humans but some strains
Animal coronaviruses emerged to infect people and then spread between people such as
with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute
CoV was transmitted from civets to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans.
Last December 31, 2019, a pneumonia of unknown cause that is different from the other
coronaviruses was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office in
China since the Novel Coronavirus was detected in Wuhan City, Hubei, Province of China
(People’s Rep of.). The disease was named as COVID-19 last Feb 4, 2020 and the virus is also
referred to as SARS-CoV-2 (ICTV 2020). The same as the MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, this
In the epicenter of the outbreak– Wuhan China, many of the patients had been linked to a
large seafood and live animal market which suggests animal to person spread. As the number of
confirmed cases enormously increases, a growing number of patients reportedly did not have
exposure to animal markets which indicates person to person spread. And this spread was
subsequently reported outside China. Furthermore, some international destinations now have
apparent community spread which means that some people have been infected and is not known
has also been suggested by current evidences that this disease has an animal source. Further
investigations had been going on in order to identify the animal source (including species
involved). As to this date, the scientific evidences are not enough to identify that source and
explain the route of transmission from an animal source to humans (WHO 2020).
The number of confirmed global cases of COVID-19 was 114,243, a total of 64,041
have already recovered and the death toll reached 4,028 across more than 100 countries
and territories since Dec. 31, 2019 to Mar. 10 as reported by the European Centre for Disease
Prevention and Control (ECDC). The deaths have been reported from China (3 139), Italy (464),
Iran (237), South Korea (54), France (30), Spain (28), United States (26), Japan (9), International
conveyance in Japan (7), Iraq (6), United Kingdom (5), Australia (3), Netherlands (3), Germany
(2), San Marino (2), Switzerland (2), Argentina (1), Canada (1), Egypt (1), Taiwan (1), Thailand
In the Philippines, Maria Rosario Vergeire, Health Secretary said that as of Mar. 10, the
total number of cases rose to 33 from 3 - in a span of five days, a month after DOH confirmed
the first cases. Comprehensive contact tracing for all cases has been conducted by the
Department of Health in coordination with concerned local government units and Centers for
Health and Development for the implementation of infection prevention and control measures
(Magsambol 2020).
Owing to these circumstances, several measures were imposed to mitigate the spread of
COVID-19 in the Philippines. This includes an enforced ban on inbound tourists from mainland
China, Hong Kong and Macau and has been extended to also cover Taiwan as the cases of
COVID-19 began to heighten in the country. The order also restricts Filipinos from travelling to
the affected areas including foreign workers. A “Code Red Sub-Level 1” was raised by the DOH
with the recommendation to the President to impose a “public health emergency”. This will
authorize DOH to mobilize resources for the procurement of safety gear and the imposition of
preventive quarantine measures. On March 9, Proclamation No. 922 was issued by President
Rodrigo Duterte declaring the country under a state of public emergency. The Philippine
government has repatriated some of its citizens across different international locations and were
The rise of COVID-19 prompted the cancellation of various events in the Philippines.
The cancelled events include Palarong Pambansa which was originally scheduled in May. The
suspension of all regional and national levels of the scheduled events was also announced by the
Department of Education on Mar. 10. Aside from that, people will not be witnessing the 25 th
Panagbenga Flower Festival due to COVID-19 outbreak in the country (Lorzano 2020).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Newspaper Article
Gavilan J. March 9, 2020. List: areas under state of public health emergency over
Lorzano J. March 10, 2020. List: events cancelled due to COVID-19 outbreak. One News
Magsambol, B. March 10, 2020. List: confirmed coronavirus cases in the Philippines as
Webpages
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Internet]. 2020. COVID-19: Frequently
ncov/faq.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Internet]. 2020. COVID-19: COVID-19
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control [Internet]. 2020. COVID-19:
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/geographical-distribution-2019-ncov-cases.
Healthline [Internet]. 2020. The latest on the coronavirus: NY Governor calls in national
mysterious-coronavirus-detected-in-china
World Organization for Animal Health [Internet]. 2020. Questions and Answers on
recommendations/questions-and-answers-on-2019novel-coronavirus/
https://www.who.int/westernpacific/emergencies/covid-19
World Health Organization [Internet]. 2020. Naming COVID-19 and the virus that causes
guidance/naming-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-2019)-and-the-virus-that-causes-it
2019/events-as-they-happen