PH on high alert over pneumonia outbreak
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Sun, 05 Jan 2020 16:14:55 +0000
The Department of Health has ordered the tight screening of travelers following the outbreak of a mysterious illness in China that has reached Hong Kong, the Department of Health (DoH) said on Sunday.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd instructed the Bureau of Quarantine to intensify the screening of arriving passengers, especially those who showed signs of “fever or respiratory infection.”
Duque said the disease, “viral pneumonia of unknown origin,” had infected 44 individuals in China. He urged travelers with symptoms, especially those who came from China, to get screened immediately.
“I urge the public, especially those with history of travel from China, to seek immediate medical help if experiencing any flu-like symptoms,” he said.
He urged the public to practice proper hygiene such as frequent hand-washing and wearing of masks in crowded places among others.
Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo said quarantine officers are on high alert in all air and sea ports.
“We’re really just being very, very careful right now in the Philippines. That’s why we put our Bureau of Quarantine on alert,” Domingo said in a television interview.
“All of our ports of entry have our quarantine officers,” he added.
“It’s very similar to any kind of flu. However, this one there was clustering in this province in China. All the people who had it, when they were tested, did not test positive for any regular kind of flu virus. So it’s something new,” Domingo explained.
HK on alert
Hospital officials in Hong Kong raised their alert level to “serious” on Saturday as a mystery viral pneumonia outbreak in mainland China continued to spread.
The infection was first reported on December 24 in Wuhan, a central Chinese city with a population of over 11 million — leading to online speculation about a resurgence of the flu-like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus that killed hundreds of people in 2002 and 2003.
The number of reported cases has now risen from 27 to 44, with 11 people listed in serious condition, according to China’s public health watchdog.
The outbreak sparked fears in Hong Kong when a woman who traveled to Wuhan during the Christmas holiday was admitted to hospital on Thursday for treatment of respiratory infections.
By mid-day Saturday, Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority had reported a total of eight cases to the city’s health department.
Three are being treated under isolation conditions in a public hospital, while the other five have been discharged.
Officials in the international financial hub also implemented enhanced monitoring and infection control in public hospitals and clinics.
In mainland China, authorities reported that the major cluster of recent infections have centered around a wet market in Wuhan, where wild animals were sold.
They were still in the process of identifying the cause, but have determined that common respiratory diseases such as influenza, bird flu and adenovirus infection are not to blame.
So far, Chinese officials say there has been no human-to-human transmission, but Ho Pak-leung, director of the University of Hong Kong’s Center for Infection, advised the city to brace for that possibility.
“Preventive measures should be as stringent as possible,” Ho told Hong Kong’s public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong, urging the mainland government to provide real-time updates.
Additional thermal imaging systems were put in place on Friday at Hong Kong’s international airport to check the body temperature of travelers arriving from Wuhan.
In Singapore, the Health Ministry also announced on Friday all travelers arriving from Wuhan would be subject to temperature checks.
From 2002 to 2003, SARS killed hundreds of people around the world, with most of the fatalities registered in China and Hong Kong.
AFP AND PNA