MIAA: Defer 'pleasure trips' to avoid swine flu
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 04/28/2009 4:09 PM
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The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) on Tuesday advised Filipinos to postpone overseas "pleasure trips" to avoid the deadly swine flu.
"It's better safe than sorry. We believe that under the present situation, it is wiser to defer pleasure trips outside the Philippines," MIAA officer-in-charge Herminia Castillo said in a statement.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has not issued travel bans despite the swine flu outbreak in Untied States and Mexico. The Department of Health (DOH), however, discouraged Filipinos from travelling abroad "unless absolutely necessary."
Meanwhile, Castillo said the MIAA has ordered its medical division to make sure it has enough stock of face masks. He said the medical division had been told to provide "front liners" with face masks to protect them from the deadly virus.
"We have to be pro-active in our measures. Everyone's protection is our paramount concern," said Castillo, adding that their medical division has also started augmenting their supply of Tamiflu, an anti-viral drug reported to be responsive to the swine flu virus.
Castillo reported that there were still no reported cases of swine flu among arriving passengers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The DOH and the Department of Agriculture have implemented the import ban of pork products from the United States, Canada and Mexico.
As of Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded more than 140 swine flu-related deaths in Mexico.
The WHO has raised is flu pandemic alert level from three to four, signalling a "significant increase in risk of a pandemic" under its criteria.
Keiji Fukuda, acting WHO assistant director-general for health, security and the environment, told journalists that while the hike is a "significant step towards pandemic influenza, it's also a phase which says we are not there yet."
"A pandemic is not considered inevitable at this time," he added.
Health experts on an emergency pandemic panel met Monday to recommend whether the WHO should raise the alert level as the likely death toll from the swine flu virus rose to 149 in Mexico.
The WHO's two-year-old alert system, which was revised this weekend, has six levels, and level four means the organization sees a "significant increase in risk of a pandemic."
But the WHO reiterated that travel restrictions were not justified and would have little effect, even if under phase four countries should consider screening travellers. With a report from Agence France-Presse
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