4 Etihad passengers not yet located

By: Tina G. Santos - 11 years ago

Passengers walk past a thermal scanner at the medical quarantine area at the arrival section of Manila’s International Airport in Paranaque. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Only four passengers of the 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 health workers, according to the Department of Health.

“We’re now only locating four passengers,” Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, DOH Emerging Infectious Diseases Program manager, said at a news briefing Thursday.

According to him, the government’s effort to keep the country free of MERS-CoV has so far cost it more than P2 million.

But the amount is small, he said, considering the economic costs if the government and the public slackened their vigilance and a positive MERS-CoV case enters the country.

“If this (threat) is not controlled, we may have a bigger problem. Imagine its economic impact, like for instance, in schools, children will be absent. Their parents cannot go to work and will not earn anything because they have to take care of their sick children. So a bigger problem awaits if we do not continue to be vigilant,” he said.

The DOH and Task Force MERS-CoV have been conducting contact tracing of all the 414 passengers on board the same flight that carried the Filipino nurse initially diagnosed with MERS-CoV.

The nurse initially tested positive for MERS-CoV while in the United Arab Emirates. But two further tests done by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine later found him negative for the virus.

Lee Suy said that to date, the government has spent P2.07 million to test all the passengers of Etihad Airlines Flight EY0424, 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.

But he was quick to add that the amount doesn’t include confinement, transportation as well as communication expenses in tracing the passengers.

The health official added that the DOH surveillance on MERS-CoV was not focused on flight EY 0424 alone.

“What we are doing with Etihad Flight 0424 passengers, we have done in the past. We have this active surveillance since August 2012. We are not just focusing on Flight 424. We are still looking at other flights. The surveillance is ongoing,” he said.

Meanwhile, a total of 356 passengers have already been contacted by the DOH, Lee Suy said, adding that 315 already underwent testing.

DOH data shows that 275 of the passengers tested negative for the virus, while results of the others are pending.

Despite the absence of a positive case, Lee Suy said the country must remain on guard against the possible entry of the MERS-CoV disease.

“The threat of MERS-CoV does not end here. We have thousands of OFWs coming home every day. We have to be vigilant always,” he said.

He also urged medical facilities to be cautious in spreading information about possible cases of MERS-CoV in the country to prevent causing undue alarm and panic among the people.

Lee Suy added that the results of all those tested for the virus would come only from the DOH.