OFW is under watch in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines - He came home to spend Christmas with family, but now he has to undergo mandatory quarantine in Cebu even after already completing the same in West Africa.

The Department of Health-7 has placed under mandatory quarantine an overseas Filipino worker from Sierra Leone, West Africa, who decided to spend the holidays at home.

The 62-year-old man has been under close monitoring for over two weeks now in a government facility in Cebu as part of the national government’s preventive measures against the entry of the deadly Ebola virus.

Department of Health -7 Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit chief Dr. Dino Caing told The FREEMAN that the passenger, who went through four airports in Sierra Leone before boarding a Hong Kong flight to Cebu, does not display any symptoms like fever, cough or colds.

“We consider the passenger Person Under Investigation or PUI since he is not displaying any symptoms of Ebola.

We are just placing him under quarantine because this is required especially with the order of the president. He is not a suspect like those who feel any of the symptoms,” Caing said.

While authorities could not name which government facility the PUI is being quarantined in, Bureau of Quarantine-7 chief Dr. Terrence Bermejo assured the public that it is a secure and well-equipped government hospital.

“The patient does not show any symptom of Ebola. We found out from the airport, through his passport, that he is working in Sierra Leone.

Though he was bringing a certificate of quarantine from West Africa, we had to explain to him that he still has to undergo quarantine for another 21 days.

We have to follow the president’s order. This is not to inconvenience our OFWs but more of making sure we remain Ebola-free,” the BOQ-7 chief explained.

Initially, the patient wanted to skip the 21-day quarantine after showing a certificate that he had underdone the same in Sierra Leone but Bermejo insisted it was required by the DOH and the president himself.

“The patient told us that the government of Sierra Leone advised them not to leave the country for a vacation because of mandatory quarantine. But he really wanted to go home for the holidays. Before Christmas, if he continues to be asymptomatic, he will be allowed to go home and be with family,” Bermejo said.

His intended vacation leave is only three weeks  but so far he has spent 21 days of quarantine in Sierra Leone and is finishing another 21 days in Cebu.

“His vacation will most likely be extended especially that he has consumed much of his time under quarantine here and in West Africa.

As much as we want him to maximize his vacation, it is also our mandate to enforce the mandatory quarantine,” the health official stressed.

No Ebola confirmatory laboratory test was done to the PUI since he does not have fever.

“Testing will be immaterial now because the primary symptom of fever is not present. There is also no need to trace and quarantine his fellow passengers in the Hong Kong to Cebu flight. He is practically very healthy so no need to worry of transmission. It just so happened that he came from Sierra Leone where there is an Ebola outbreak. He has been cleared from Sierra Leone and he will be given clearance from us as soon as he finished the local quarantine.

He is well-taken care of at the facility he is in now. We are still Ebola-free and we wish to remain the same,” Bermejo said.

The passenger, Bermejo added, is not from Cebu but a neighboring province within Central Visayas and has been working as a mining supervisor in Sierra Leone since 2012. — /BRP  (FREEMAN)