CNN Philippines temporarily stopped broadcasting today after another tenant of the building in the capital Manila where it is located confirmed a Covid-19 patient was at its premises.
The management of the Worldwide Corporate Center along Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong City — where CNN Philippines is housed — disinfected the building occupied by a number of other companies.
As a result, CNN Philippines was off the air for at least 24 hours.
READ MORE: Al Jazeera’s live coronavirus pandemic global updates
CNN Philippines continued to provide the news through its website and its Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts. Updates were also posted on the CNN Philippines Viber community.
“We have prepared for this emergency. For more than two weeks, many of our colleagues have been isolated and working from home already,” the company said in a statement.
“We took that step in anticipation of something like this to happen. CNN Philippines still has a team working to gather stories that matter and to bring them to you as they happen.”
In the Philippines, 202 have been infected with the virus and 17 have died because of it. Four have recovered, while the rest are admitted at various hospitals in the country. Globally, it has affected more than 198,000 and killed nearly 8000 people.
Disease causes
Covid-19 is a disease caused by a coronavirus called Sars-CoV-2, which is related to the virus which causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, but is not as deadly, with the fatality rate standing at around three percent.
According to the World Health Organisation, 80 percent of patients only experience “mild illness” and eventually recover. It added that some 14 percent experience severe illness while five percent were critically ill.
The disease is spread through small droplets from the nose or mouth when people infected with the virus cough or sneeze.
To prevent infection, authorities are urging people to practice regular hand washing, cover their mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, and avoid close contact with those who show respiratory symptoms.
