8 missing travelers from South Africa put wrong details in info sheets, unresponsive — DOH

FILE PHOTO Airline ground staff (L) wearing protective gear work at the counter at the airport in Manila. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)

MANILA, Philippines — The eight travelers from South Africa who are yet to be located provided wrong or incomplete details on their personal information sheets, while others are unresponsive, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire shared Tuesday.

Vergeire earlier reported that the eight travelers are among the 253 travelers who arrived in the country from South Africa on November 15 to 29.

The government is looking for the travelers to conduct a retest amid the threat of the Omicron variant.

“Ang naging challenge natin dito, mali-mali po ‘yung detalye du’n sa kanilang personal information sheets,” Vergeire said on Teleradyo’s Sakto.

(The challenge here is that the details listed on their personal information sheets are wrong.)

Four of the eight travelers provided the contact number of their agencies, which cannot be reached, instead of their personal number, the health official said.

One individual, meanwhile, failed to provide the complete contact number, lacking one figure, two have the correct numbers but are unresponsive while one listed an incomplete address.

“So, these are the challenges that we are now faced with these travelers but we are coordinating with the different local governments po,” Vergeire said.

According to Vergeire, they flagged the Bureau of Quarantine and the Department of Transportation as it is within their ambit to ensure that the details foreigners put in their information sheet are correct.

“It should be the specific agency na dapat natin kausapin para they can always assure us na tama po ‘yung mga dokumento at saka tama ‘yung detalyeng naibibigay sa ‘tin. So that when we do our contact tracing, hindi po tayo nahihirapan,” she explained.

(It should be the specific agency that we should talk to so they can always assure us that the documents and details given to us are correct. So that when we do our contact tracing, it would not be difficult.)

“So, we already flagged the Bureau of Quarantine and the Department of Transportation regarding this matter so that they can coordinate with the specific agencies of these individuals,” she said.

Vergeire appealed to the eight travelers to contact their respective Department of Health (DOH) regional offices.

“Kung alam niyo po na kasama po kayo dito sa mga travelers na hinahanap namin, please coordinate with your DOH regional offices. Alam naman po sa mga website ‘yung kanilang mga numero,” she pleaded.

(If you know that you are among the travelers we’re looking for, please coordinate with your DOH regional offices. Their numbers are posted on their websites.)

“Para lang makuha natin ‘yung detalye niyo, ma-i-test po namin kayo agad, at magawa po natin kung ano po ang kailangan para ma-prevent po natin kung sakali ang pagkalat ng transmisyon nitong Omicron variant,” Vergeire continued.

(So that we can get your details, test you, and conduct measures needed to prevent the possible spread of the Omicron variant.)

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