Gov’t spends P2 M to test passengers for MERS

The government has spent at least 2 million to track down and test passengers of an Etihad Airlines flight that arrived in the country on April 15 for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus.

Department of Health (DOH) program manager for Emerging and Re- emerging Diseases Lyndon Lee Suy said the cost of the tests is 5,000 per passenger.

He said the amount is negligible, considering the economic repercussions in case any of the passengers had contracted the virus.

“We may have a bigger problem from the economic point of view if there is a positive case and we are not able to control it. Imagine in schools, the children will be absent and they will be taken care of by their parents who, in turn, will not be able to work. So there is a real bigger problem if we don’t do this,” he said.

Lee Suy said the amount does not include the cost of transporting the specimen, communication expenses in tracing the passengers and putting them in quarantine.

As a procedure, nose and throat swab samples are collected from each passenger and sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine ( RITM).

One of the passengers is a male nurse who initially tested positive for MERS in the United Arab Emirates. He, however, tested negative after two screenings by the DOH.

Lee Suy had called on the remaining passengers who have not come forward to submit themselves for tests.

275 negative

DOH records show that 275 of the 315 passengers that have been tested were found negative of the virus. The result for the rest of those tested is still being awaited.

At least 356 of the 414 passengers have so far been traced.

Lee Suy said the government is not letting its guard down even though the country remains MERS- free. He invoked the state’s “no regrets” policy in dealing with public health concerns.

“The threat of MERS-coV does not end here. We have thousands of overseas of Filipino workers coming home every day. We have to be vigilant always,” he said.

Double negative

In the UAE, three of the five Filipino health workers quarantined for 14 days also tested negative for MERS, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Charles Jose said yesterday.

He said the three got “double negative results” in a series of tests.

Jose said the two remaining Filipinos are still awaiting their test results.

The DFA had said there are no travel restrictions to and from the Arabian peninsula in the face of the MERS scare, but advised Filipinos in the Middle East, especially in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, to take the necessary precautionary measures.

Clark airport

assengers arriving at the Clark International Airport from the Middle East are also being strictly monitored, Clark International Airport Corp. ( CIAC) president and chief executive officer Victor Jose Luciano said. – WithPia LeeB-rago, Ding Cervantes, Eva Visperas, Artemio Dumlao, DannyDangcalan, Ric Sapnu