Palace Allays Public Fears on MERS-CoV Infection

The palace made an assurance on Saturday that it has enough measures in place to address the threat being posed by MERS coronavirus especially after a case was reported in Thailand, a neighboring Asian country.

“Sa bahagi naman po ng ating pamahalaan, ganap ang ating kahandaan na labanan ang banta ng MERS coronavirus,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr said in a radio interview over dzRB Radyo ng Bayan.

Coloma said the government started with intensive an information campaign in the Middle East, where MERS-CoV originated, briefing Filipino health workers there on infection control protocols to avoid contracting MERS-CoV.

“Dito naman po sa atin ay mahigpit na ipinatutupad ang mga quarantine procedure,” he said.

“Dapat po pagdating sa airport ay nagdedeklara hinggil dito para mapadali ang tinatawag na contact tracing.”

Health authorities are also conducting thermal checks at the airports to detect passengers from abroad who might carry the disease, he said.
“Wala pong dapat ipangamba ang ating mga mamamayan dahil puspusan po ang pag-iingat at pagsisikap ng Department of Health na labanan at pigilin ang pagdating ng MERS coronavirus sa ating bansa,” Coloma said.

The Palace official said that although there are reports of infections in Thailand and South Korea, the government has not issued travel advisories for those countries.

The government is using World Health Organization assessments, and still does not see a need to issue travel advisories for those countries, Coloma said.

Prior to reports of infection in Thailand, MERS-CoV has killed several people in South Korea, especially among the elderly. PND (as)