26 cases from Visayas pass MERS-CoV test

SILHOUETTES. Passengers walk past a thermal scanner at the medical quarantine area at the arrival section of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Parañaque City. A similar scanner is also mounted in the international arrival area of the Mactan Cebu International Airport. The scanner can detect anyone who passes through with abnormally high body temperature.
AP Photo

The 26 people from eastern and central Visayas who were placed under quarantine have tested negative for the Corona virus that causes the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome or MERS.

Authorities are still on the lookout for one unaccounted Etihad Airways passenger who is believed to be in Cebu.

Of the number who tested negative, 20 were from Cebu, two from Bohol, one from Negros Oriental, two from Eastern Samar and one from Leyte, according to Department of Health regional officials in a press conference yesterday.

Dr. Lakshmi Legaspi, assistant regional health director for Central Visayas, said 23 people who underwent swabbing in Region 7 have tested negative.

“The two pending results are for one patient from Negros Oriental and the other one is currently in Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC),” she told reporters.

The patient from Negros Oriental is one of the passengers of Etihad Airways flight EY0424 while the other one voluntarily went to the hospital for consultation.

A total of 356 passengers of flight EY0424 have already been contacted by the DOH.

Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, DOH Emerging Infectious Diseases Program manager, said 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.

On guard

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.

Except for four from Cebu, all 26 suspected cases in the Visayas were passengers of the April 15 Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi to Manila that flew home a Filipino male nurse who was earlier found positive for the Corona virus.

DOH-7’s Legaspi said the four volunteered to have themselves tested because they had come from the Middle East.

Twelve were quarantined at the VSMMC and another in a private hospital in Cebu City. They were discharged after the results from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City showed that they were free of the virus. Four Filipinos and three Nigerians in Cebu were not quarantined but their swab specimens sent to RITM tested negative.

Reynan Cimafranca, head of the DOH Regional Epidemiological Surveillance Unit (Resu-7), said the Nigerians opted to be isolated at home.

“We already informed them about the negative results about the swab tests. Also, they are not required to go to the hospital after the release of the results” he said.

The three from Leyte and Eastern Samar were not quarantined, said Boyd Cerro, chief of the Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit of DOH Eastern Visayas (Resu-8).

He said the DOH went to the houses of the three individuals on Good Friday to take swab samples.

The three were at first hesitant to give swab samples .“But I explained to them that we just wanted to make sure that they didn’t have the ailment which has a 40 percent mortality rate,” Cerro said.

That leaves only four passengers of the Etihad flight who have yet to be contacted by government health workers.

Dr. Expedito Medalla, coordinator of the Health Emergency Management Staff (HEMS) said one unaccounted passenger remains whom they believe to be in Cebu.

“We still failed to find that unaccounted person but the search continues,” he said.

Chief Supt. Danilo Constantino, chief of police of Central Visayas (PRO-7), said they have difficulty locating the unaccounted passenger as there are five other people with the same name in government records.

Without protective gear for the law enforcers, “It is risky for the police also,” he said. “So pwede kami ma-infect din.” .

Dr. Legaspi of DOH-7 said they anticipate more people coming home from the Middle East who will voluntarily submit themselves for consultation.

“We are expecting more of that. What we can do is to prepare and our surveillance unit to continuously monitor,” Dr. Legaspi said.

She said there is intensified monitoring in airports and sea ports.

Efforts to keep the country free of MERS has so far cost the government more than P2 million.

“The government is shouldering the testing at a rate of P5,000 for each laboratory test,” said Lee Suy.

The amount doesn’t include confinement, transportation as well as communication expenses in tracing the passengers.

“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. /with reports from Correspondent Chito O. Aragon and Inquirer