18 Central Luzon residents on Etihad flight test negative for MERS
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines—At least 18 passengers from Central Luzon of Etihad Airlines flight EY 0424 have tested negative for the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Corona Virus (MERS-CoV), a Department of Health official here said on Tuesday.
The results of swabbing for saliva samples on 30 other passengers from the same region were expected in two to three days, said Dr. Rhodora Cruz, a DOH medical specialist.
They belonged to a set of 51 passengers who are residents of Central Luzon, she said.
In this batch, three persons have yet to be traced or have not reported to the Jose B. Lingad Regional Memorial Hospital, a DOH-run facility in this Pampanga capital. It has reserved an isolation room for MERS-CoV patients.
Cruz said that of the 51 passengers, 7 are from Bataan province, 19 from Bulacan province, 7 from Nueva Ecija province, 11 from Pampanga province, 4 from Tarlac province and 3 from Zambales province.
Cruz said only two patients agreed to be confined for observation. The rest preferred home confinement.
At the Clark International Airport in Pampanga, authorities on Tuesday imposed a strict monitoring of possible carriers of MERS-CoV among passengers.
The move was made to prevent the spread of the deadly disease in the country, Victor Jose Luciano, president and chief executive officer of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC), said in a statement.
Luciano said the CIAC, Bureau of Quarantine and the DOH have set up a quarantine holding room for suspected carriers of MERS-CoV. They will be attended to by CIAC medical personnel.
The CRK has a thermal scanner that operates 24 hours daily. The airport receives passengers of Qatar Airways and Emirates Airlines from the United Arab Emirates especially Doha, Qatar and Dubai.
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