JERRY: SAFETY FIRST Mayor wants Singapore-Iloilo flights stopped

ILOILO City – Flights from Singapore to Iloilo and vice versa must be temporarily halted, too, according Mayor Jerry Treñas, as a precautionary measure against the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). In letters to three airlines, he pointed out the “rising cases of the novel coronavirus globally.”

The Iloilo Airport services two international flights – Iloilo to Singapore and vice versa, and Iloilo to Hong Kong and vice versa.

Yesterday, Treñas wrote letters to Cebu Pacific Air, Philippine Airlines and Air Asia that they “voluntarily cease your international flights to and from countries positive with the 2019 novel coronavirus immediately.”

PAL and Air Asia actually have no Singapore and Hong Kong flights from and to the Iloilo Airport in Cabatuan, Iloilo. Only Cebu Pacific has.

Cebu Pacific already halted its Hong Kong-Iloilo flight beginning Feb. 4. This would stretch up to March 29, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).

However, the airline is maintaining its Singapore to Iloilo flights and vice versa, according to Iloilo Airport terminal supervisor Arthur Parreño.

Both Hong Kong and Singapore have reported 2019-nCoV infections (18 and 28, respectively).

Yesterday, Singapore raised its Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (Dorscon) level from yellow to orange. This means that the nCoV infection is deemed severe and spreads easily from person to person but has not spread widely and is being contained.

Treñas did not mention the Singapore-Iloilo flights in his letter to the three airlines but in media interviews he pointed out such service.

He also expressed concern over the continued entry of international flights at the Kalibo International Airport, although those from China have been temporarily stopped.

“Kon mag ginutok to sila sa Kalibo kag may magmasakit, waay man na sila iban nga kadtuan kundi diri man gihapon sa aton. We are concerned. Ginaproteksyunan ta ang aton pumoluyo dasun sige ila pa pasulod,” Treñas lamented.

At the Iloilo Airport, CAAP’s Parreño said his agency tightened medical quarantine protocols. Bureau of Quarantine personnel have been posted on Aerobridge 3, the designated passageway of passengers arriving from Singapore.

The thermal scanner has also been activated to detect passengers with fever – one of the symptoms of those infected with the 2019-nCoV.

“Feverish passengers would be ushered to an isolation room,” said Parreño.

Hospital authorities would be contacted for an ambulance that would take the passengers to the hospital for further examination.

“The suspected cases won’t be passing the passenger terminal but through the ramp in going to the waiting ambulance,” Parreño stressed.

From Wuhan City, China, the 2019-nCoV has now spread to more than 25 countries. There have been more than 28,000 cases worldwide but only two of the deaths have been outside mainland China (one in the Philippines and one in Hong Kong).

The fast-moving infection, which causes pneumonia-like symptoms, has been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization.

It seems to start with a fever, followed by a dry cough and then, after a week, leads to shortness of breath.

But in more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.

A report on the early stages of the outbreak by the Lancet medical journal said most patients who died from the virus had pre-existing conditions. (BBC/PN)

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here