AROUND 2,000 Chinese nationals have been placed under monitoring for possible 2019 novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease (2019-nCov ARV) infection.
Catherine Fulgencio, head of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) of Malay, Aklan, said 2,000 tourists are currently staying in different hotels and establishments in Boracay and they have been considered as persons under monitoring (PUMs).
Under the PUM category are those who came from China, Hong Kong, and Macau, said Department of Health (DOH) Center for Health Development (CHD)-Western Visayas Director Dr. Marlyn Convocar.
"The PUMs, once they show fever, cough, colds, some shortness of breath, they are already PUIs (patients under investigation)," Convocar said.
During the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management's (RDRRMC) Pre-Disaster Risk Assessment on Tuesday, February 4, at the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in Camp Martin Delgado in Iloilo City, Fulgencio sought the help of the DOH-CHD-Western Visayas for assistance because they have a hard time monitoring all the 2,000 PUMs.
Fulgencio said 5,400 tourists arrived in Boracay through the Kalibo International Airport before the flight cancellations and the February 2 temporary travel ban imposed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Due to canceled flights, these 2,000 Chinese tourists remain on the island.
Fulgencio said the presence of these 2,000 Chinese nationals in different hotels and establishments poses a challenge for the MDRRMO and health officials, as they have to monitor them.
She said it would be better if these hotels and establishments have safety health officers who can regularly check the health status of the PUMs.
"Just imagine all the passengers from the airplane are all PUMs. Where are we going to put them and contain them?" Convocar asked.
Convocar has asked all local government units, including Malay, to designate and look for a place that can serve as a containment area.
"Our concerns are we have to monitor all those who arrived 14 days before the February 2 banning, and these are passengers who came on January 21 and today (February 4) is their 14th day of monitoring as PUMs," Convocar said.
Another concern for Convocar are those passengers who arrived from January 22 until February 4, since their last monitoring will end on February 16.
"All PUMs should be contained in that area where they are located so we could monitor them," Convocar said.
OCD Regional Director Jose Roberto Nuñez said the RDRRMC will create a task force that will look into the Boracay Island case.
"If they have a hard time monitoring these people, the National Government will come in and they should not resist because we have a lot to do. This not for us but for everyone," Nuñez said.
The purpose of the task force is for cooperation.
"We will go there but we don't know the hotel owners, so since the LGU knows these people, we will tap them," Nuñez said.
Nuñez added that they need cooperation with the hotel management so they can look at the patient if there are Chinese nationals who have flu-like symptoms.
With the task force, the RDRRMC said it will activate this week the incident management team to focus on the 2,000 PUMs.
The team will be composed of all member agencies of RDMMC where they will be deployed to Boracay Island.
Nuñez said the RDMMC need to help the local government unit of Malay and those hotel establishments and some uncooperative Chinese PUMs.
Nuñez said there is no shutdown or closure in Boracay Island yet.
"If there is really one there and hesitant to cooperate, then we identified one hotel, maybe that is the time," Nuñez said. (SunStar Philippines)