DOH still tracking last 4 passengers on Etihad flight

MANILA—The Department of Health is now in the process of establishing communication with the remaining four of the 414 Etihad Airways flight passengers they have been looking for to undergo tests for the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus (MERS-CoV).

According to Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, DOH Emerging Infectious Diseases Program manager, they have already acquired the contact details of the four passengers.

“We’re now in the process of initiating contacts with the four passengers based on the contact details we received,” he said in an interview. “At least now, we already have the data to work on, unlike yesterday when we had nothing at all,”

The DOH and Task Force MERS-CoV have located all but four of the 414 passengers of Etihad Airways Flight EY 0424, which carried a male Filipino nurse who was initially diagnosed positive for the virus. Further tests conducted on the nurse showed that he was negative for the virus.

Lee Suy had said earlier that one of the problems they encountered in locating the passengers was incomplete or wrong data provided by the passengers themselves.

Because of this, Health Secretary Enrique Ona reminded returning Filipinos from the Middle East not to make any misdeclarations in filling up the Health Declaration Checklist given to them upon their arrival.

Ona said they would look into the possible liabilities on the part of those who do not truthfully answer the checklist.

“They should be made liable because they may endanger the health of their countrymen,” Ona said.

He said some returning Filipinos may possibly opt not to declare if they are suffering from any MERS-COV symptoms in order to avoid the hassle of being tested and possibly quarantined.

Lee Suy assured the public that the Philippines, as of Friday, was still “MERS-CoV free.”

“So far, all results that have come out are negative,” he said.

But he was quick to add that Filipinos should not be complacent in dealing with the MERS-CoV or with the threats of other infectious diseases.

Lee Suy said President Aquino wants all government agencies to craft a “more concrete, more detailed, and more comprehensive response to emerging infectious diseases.”

“The DOH has a plan on emerging diseases, but the President wants to see a bigger, wider plan involving more agencies. He wants it to be a multi-agency initiative,” he said.