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CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) has announced that there are now only eight South Koreans from Daegu City, who have remained under self-quarantine in Cebu.
With this development, Dr. Jaime Bernadas, DOH-7 director, assured that all 26 South Koreans, who arrived in Cebu from Daegu City had been accounted for.
Daegu City is the epicenter of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Seven of them were initially reported missing on February 28, or three days after they arrived in the country via Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA).
Read more: Authorities scrambling to find 7 Koreans from Daegu
However, during a press briefing on March 2, 2020, Bernadas reiterated the Korean consulate’s recent announcement that 17 of the 26 South Koreans had already flown back to South Korea while the eight others opted to remain isolated in their respective hotel rooms.
“There were two who just travelled back to South Korea today,” he said.
Bernadas also said that the whereabouts of last one of the 26 South Koreans was traced to Central Luzon.
With this, he said that they had endorsed him to their counterparts in Central Luzon because they found that the foreigner was already there.
He also said that the Korean tourists were all healthy and did not exhibit any symptoms or signs of the disease as of March 2.
Misdeclaration
DOH – 7 said four of the 26 South Korean passengers misdeclared the addresses of the hotels they were supposed to stay on their health declaration forms.
Arriving passengers from domestic and international flights, who will be found out to have misrepresented their arrival forms, will be facing one-year imprisonment or pay P5,000 as penalties.
Read more: Travelers warned: False info can land you in jail
However, Bernadas said they would not impose penalties or would not sanction these foreigners despite their attempts to evade Philippine authorities after the Philippine government imposed a travel ban on Daegu City and North Gyeongsang province.
“We will be treating them with leniency in order to let them stay inside their rooms, and that they will be more cooperative with the authorities,” Bernadas said.
“Our surveillance team had tracked them down, only after it was found out that they transferred to other hotels and residential establishments because apparently, they were hiding from us,” he added in a mix of Cebuano and English.
The Cebu Provincial government, through its legislative body, enacted an ordinance seeking to penalize everyone spreading and putting false information, including travelers arriving at Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA).
Read more: Envoy offers to help monitor 9 Koreans from Daegu
The South Korean government, through the Korean Consulate in Cebu, has offered to assist Philippine officials on closely monitoring the status of their constituents who chose to remain here./dbs