MANILA — The Philippine health department said Thursday it is hoping those in charge of the Grand Princess cruise ship in the United States have learned the lessons from the Diamond Princess experience in Japan as far as dealing with the new coronavirus outbreak.

“Hopefully they have learned from what happened,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III told reporters. “Sana 'wag maulit yung mga lapses na mismong Japanese government ang nagsasabi na na-commit.”

(I hope the lapses admitted by the Japanese government will not be repeated.)

About 500 Filipino crew members are on board the Grand Princess docked in San Francisco as authorities conduct tests for suspected cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

A 71-year-old passenger of the ship died after reportedly being infected, while more than 20 others are suspected to have contracted the disease.

“They are doing the best right now. We will have to wait what the results are of the test,” Duque said. “If that will happen, the country, the US will have to quarantine all of them.”

The health official said it will impose the “same cycle” that was used for the repatriates from the Diamond Princess.

After undergoing quarantine aboard the ship, the repatriates were subjected to another round of quarantine at New Clark City in Tarlac province, north of Manila. The more than 400 repatriates are due to be cleared next week.

“So, mangyayari n'yan, mag-quarantine sila doon (What will happen is, they will undergo quarantine there),” Duque said, referring to the Grand Princess crew members. "If there is a decision to repatriate them, we will subject them to another round of fresh quarantine.”

Asked what was done wrong during the Diamond Princess quarantine in Japan, Duque said, “I understand that although they were able to quarantine the passengers in their rooms, the crew members were allowed to interact, do things. That sort of put them at risk.”

Of the more than 3,000 passengers of Diamond Princess, more than 700 tested positive for COVID-19, including 80 Filipino crew members. Many of the Filipinos have already recovered and some have been allowed to return to the Philippines.

“We are waiting for the complete information before we can plan,” Duque said when asked for more details on the Grand Princess cruise ship.

FILIPINO IN AUSTRALIA?

Meanwhile, the health minister said the Philippine government is still verifying if the new coronavirus-infected woman who traveled from the Philippines to Australia is a Filipino national.

“It did not say whether it’s a Filipino. We don’t have enough information to make a complete sense of it,” he said, adding that he is still getting more information.

“The nationality is not clear... We don’t know the timelines. For all we know, that person might have contracted the COVID-19 infection there in Australia because they have (many cases of COVID-19). Tayo, we don’t have. Baka nag-transit lang (She may just have transited).”

Duque said he prefers to wait for more information before commenting on the news reports.