INTENSIFIED THERMAL SCANNING. Personnel of the Bureau of Quarantine (BoQ-7) monitor arriving passengers at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Terminal 2 using thermal cameras on Wednesday (Jan. 22, 2020). GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation chief executive adviser Andrew Harrison said intensified thermal scanning has been implemented as part of strict precautionary measures to prevent the spread and transmission of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019 nCoV). (PNA photo by John Rey Saavedra)
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu – The Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) management said it has started implementing strict precautionary measures to prevent the spread and transmission of the novel coronavirus.
Andrew Harrison, chief executive adviser of GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation, said in a press briefing Wednesday night that the MCIA has taken up the measures, considering that many flights arriving in the airport come from China.
The airport is servicing flights from Hong Kong and Macau apart from 10 direct flights from 10 provinces of mainland China.
The announcement also came following the discovery of a five-year-old Chinese boy who has been suspected of having contracted the deadly coronavirus strain.
“We called a meeting with all our airlines and ground handlers to discuss additional measures to prevent the potential transmission and spread of coronavirus. And this is to protect our passengers and to protect our staff who inter-face with these passengers,” Harrison told journalists here.
He said the airport management is taking “directions from the Bureau of Quarantine (BoQ) in terms of implementing the measures to control communicable disease or listed diseases that may be prevalent and affecting travelers coming in to the Philippines.”
As part of the precautionary measures, Harrison said all airlines have been advised to make a standard in-flight announcement prior to landing at the Mactan airport advising passengers experiencing flu-like symptoms.
The passengers are also advised to self-declare and voluntarily submit to medical screening by the BoQ upon disembarkation, he said.
The airport management also installed alcohol-based hand sanitizer dispensers in all aerobridges (enclosed, movable connector which most commonly extends from an airport terminal gate to an airplane) and arrival corridors.
Harrison said passengers are advised to use the hand sanitizers following the issuance of advisory of the Department of Health (DOH) on frequent hand-washing, proper nutrition, and avoiding crowded places as among the measures to prevent the spread of the newly discovered 2019-novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) strain from China.
He said that liquid disinfectants will be sprayed in the aerobridges prior to each flight arrival.
Dr. Paul Longinos, MCIA quarantine officer, said the BoQ is on double heightened alert and ordered to assign more quarantine personnel at the airport to augment the existing physician and three nurses on duty per shift.
“BoQ-7 provided us assistance by assigning four doctors and 20 nurses in addition to existing eight quarantine officers in the airport,” Longinos said.
Quarantine officers, he said, have also intensified monitoring arriving passengers at the MCIA by assigning additional thermal cameras to scan visitors’ body temperatures on the aerobridges of all flights arriving directly from China.
Static thermal scanners are also in place at the Immigration Arrival Level of the airport, Longinos said.
Harrison also announced assigning a medical team at the arrival areas of both Terminal 1 and 2 to inform passengers of the measures being implemented.
He, however, clarified that BoQ maintains “primary responsibility for dealing with the suspected cases.”
Airport staff directly dealing with the arriving passengers is required to wear surgical masks, he said.
Harrison also said the MCIA management has been bracing for the influx of passengers from China in time for Chinese New Year on January 25.
Meanwhile, health authorities reported that the five-year-old boy and his mother are now in quarantine in a hospital isolation room while the DOH is waiting for the result of the test on the patient to determine the specific coronavirus strain.
The boy, who has a history of travel to Wuhan, was tested negative of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the report said. (PNA)
