Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III on Thursday said the cremation of the remains of the 44-year Chinese national who died of severe pneumonia triggered by the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has been delayed after a funeral parlor backed out.

Duque said that the cremation of the body was also among their problems.

A civic organization had earlier promised to take charge of the cremation of the first death from the virus which was reported in the Philippines, but backed out later on.

Duque said this was similar to what happened now– a funeral parlor on Araneta Avenue in Quezon City earlier agreed to do the job, but also backed out.

“Isa pa ito sa nagiging problema namin dahil yung mga umoo, bandang huli, umaatras,” Duque said.

The body of the Chinese man still remains in a sealed in a body bag.

Due to this, Duque said he had given an order to look for another funeral parlor because it’s already beyond the time when the body should have been cremated.

The Chinese man died of severe pneumonia from the 2019-nCoV last February 1. He was the first 2019-nCoV fatality recorded outside of China.

His companion was the country’s first case of 2019-nCoV, a 38-year-old Chinese woman. Both of them traveled to Cebu on January 21 then to Dumaguete on January 22 before flying back to Manila on January 25.

Duque said he will wait for a report on whether permission from a public cemetery has been secured,” he said.

“You can’t blame the funeral parlor because they’re saying it might affect their image and their business,” he said.

Meanwhile, Senator Richard Gordon stressed the need for the Philippines to be self-sufficient in producing supplies that would be needed with the possible emergence of global and local natural and man-made threats that could hit the country such as the novel coronavirus outbreak

He pointed out that the Philippines should be able to produce its own strategic supplies instead of relying on importation from other countries because if the emergency would be a global threat, then there would be scarcity of supplies since other countries would also pose demands.

Aside from medical supplies, the senator said the country should also ensure that there is sufficient production of food supply; that it could produce its own munitions, as he had been long advocating; and that there is enough trained manpower that could be tapped to respond during emergencies.

Gordon further added that water sources should also be regularly monitored to ensure that there would be adequate supply of water and that the country’s airlines should be prepared to be commandeered for repatriation of migrant Filipinos should the need arise./Stacy Ang