Passengers walk past a thermal scanner at the medical quarantine area at the arrival section of Manila’s International Airport in Paranaque, south of Manila, Philippines on Wednesday, April 16, 2014. AP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Only four passengers from the Etihad Airlines flight carrying the Filipino nurse initially diagnosed with the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus (MERS-CoV) have yet to be contacted by the government, according to the Department of Health (DOH).
“We’re now locating only four passengers,” Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, manager of the DOH emerging infectious diseases program told a news briefing yesterday.
The effort to keep the country free from MERS-CoV has so far cost the government more than P2 million, Suy said.
But the amount is small considering the economic costs that would be incurred if a positive MERS-CoV case enters the country, he said.
“We have thousands of OFWs coming home every day. We have to be vigilant always,” he said.
The DOH and Task Force MERS-COV have been conducting contact tracing of all the 414 passengers on board the Etihad Airlines flight that carried the Filipino nurse initially diagnosed with MERS-CoV.
Negative for virus
The nurse tested positive for MERS-CoV while still in the United Arab Emirates. But two further tests done by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) here later found him negative for the virus.
According to Lee Suy, the government has so far spent P2.07 million to test all the passengers of Etihad Flight 424, which arrived in Manila last April 15.
“The government is shouldering the testing at a rate of P5,000 for each laboratory test,” said Lee Suy, adding that the amount does not include confinement, transportation as well as communication expenses in tracing the passengers.
But the DOH surveillance of MERS-CoV is not focused on flight EY 424 alone, Suy said.
“We are not just focusing on flight 424. We are still looking at other flights. The surveillance is ongoing,” he said.
He said 356 passengers from the Etihad flight have already been contacted by the DOH, and 315 have undergone testing.
DOH data showed that 275 of the passengers all tested negative for the virus, while the results of the others are pending.
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