MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has served notice that the government would seize privately owned buildings and convert them into emergency hospitals if health authorities were unable to find suitable quarantine facilities in case the new coronavirus continued to spread in the country.

“Well I will expropriate. I will get your building whether you like it or not. In times of emergency, I can,” the President said in a press briefing on Monday night after a special Cabinet meeting on containing the virus.

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“It is confiscatory in nature. You confiscate, then you make it a hospital,” he said, adding that the building would be controlled by the authorities.

Duterte, however, said there was no need for that drastic measure at the moment.

As of Tuesday, the Philippines had only two confirmed cases of the new virus, both Chinese nationals, including one who has died — the first death from the epidemic outside mainland China. More than 60 are under observation for possible infection.

Unused rehab center

Duterte brought up the possibility of expropriating private property in connection with the isolation of dozens of Filipinos who would be flown home from Wuhan, in the central Chinese province of Hubei, to save them from the outbreak that had killed more than 420 and infected more than 20,400 and spread to 25 countries as of Tuesday.

The government is looking at using the largely unused Mega Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center inside the Fort Magsaysay military reservation in Nueva Ecija province as a quarantine site. It was donated by a Chinese philanthropist and was built supposedly to accommodate 10,000 drug dependents.

“The problem is, I think the governor does not like it,” the President said. “That building is inside a national government reservation. That’s spacious.”

When the time comes to require the quarantine of Filipinos or foreigners, Duterte said Health Secretary Francisco Duque III was under orders “to prepare a space, a ward in our hospitals or a separate room, building, where we can house them.”

‘Hysterical’ response

He also said there was no reason to be “extra scared” about the new coronavirus and slammed the “hysterical” response to its spread.

“Everything is well in the country,” he said. “You know, one or two (infections) in any country is really not that fearsome.”

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He assured Filipinos that like during the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in 2002-2003, the new virus will burn out.

Mr. Duterte said that “even without the vaccines, it will just die a natural death. … This will also end.”

“SARS midway just disappeared. It came suddenly and disappeared suddenly. That’s how contagions are. It has a lifespan and it loses immunity because people over time acquire immunity,” the President said.

While his Cabinet officials were not taking the outbreak lightly, that wasn’t enough for the President to limit his public appearances to avoid getting infected.

He said he could not just stop appearing in public or refrain from shaking hands with people because that was part of his duties as the country’s leader.

“You know, when my time comes, you will know. Because I will go out of Malacañang in a funeral car. Life is like that,” the 74-year-old President said.

Duterte is often seen wearing a personal wearable air purifier to protect himself from contracting cold and cough from people around him.

‘This Sinophobia thing’

Health officials have repeatedly advised the public to observe precautionary measures to avoid getting infected, such as frequent and thorough handwashing, eating nutritious food to boost their immune system, and observing proper cough etiquette.Duque has called on the public to refrain from buzzing each other on the cheeks, fist bumps and handshakes.

What the President was more concerned about was the growing xenophobia directed against the Chinese.

“Stop this Sinophobia thing,” he said. “You hate anything that is Chinese. It is not good, because we have so many Filipinos in China.”

Even if there were no Filipinos in China, it would not be good to hate the Chinese because “we are a community of nations,” he added.

“China has been kind to us. We can only also show the same favor to them,” Duterte said.

The government, however, has banned the entry into the country of all Chinese and other foreign travelers coming from China, Macau and Hong Kong to stop the spread of the virus in the Philippines.

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