MANILA, Philippines – Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) authorities stepped up their security measures Thursday after Hong Kong confirmed its first human avian influenza case in 7 years.
The former Crown colony has already raised its bird flu alert to “serious” because of the case. The patient is a 59-year-old woman who returned from a visit to the Chinese mainland.
Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) chief Jose Honrado said they are aware of the bird flu case in Hong Kong, but the agency has yet to receive a new alert warning from the Department of Health and the World Health Organization.
Honrado assured, however, that their security measures are in place.
Thermal scanners, which monitor body temperature, are in place at the NAIA arrival and departure areas.
If an airline passenger is found to have a body temperature above 37 degrees Celsius, the passenger will be asked to proceed to a clinic to be examined.
“This is only a screening process and further examination of persons may be required and further tests if influenza is suspected,” said Dr. Eric Tayag, head of the Department of Health’s National Epidemiology Center.
He told ANC’s The World Tonight that bird flu patients will be brought to dedicated hospitals such as the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Alabang, the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila, or the Lung Center of the Philippines.
According to Dr. Alexander Oba of the Bureau of Quarantine, the public should not worry since the Philippines has been bird flu-free even during the height of the disease’s outbreak in other Asian countries.
The World Health Organization revealed that human cases of bird flu or the H5N1 virus have only been reported in 6 countries - Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam.
The Philippines, Brunei, and Singapore, are among countries in Asia that have not been hit by the disease, according to the DOH’s Dr. Lyndon Lee
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