No travel ban to HK over bird flu

MANILA, Philippines - Even after Hong Kong recorded its first human case of H7N9 avian flu, the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday that there is still no need to impose a travel ban on Filipinos traveling to the territory.

DOH Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag said that a travel restriction in Hong Kong is not necessary since there is still no sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus anywhere in the world.

“This means that anyone is still free to travel to and from Hong Kong but as an extra precaution, Secretary (Enrique) Ona had given an instruction to the Bureau of Quarantine to scale up its thermal scanning of incoming travelers,” he noted.

Tayag added that the bureau had also been ordered to give out a health advisory among travelers, especially those who have a history of travel in countries where there are human avian flu cases and who have been exposed in a poultry farm there.

“The incubation period of avian flu is seven to 10 days (after exposure to infected chickens) so in case they develop symptoms later, they’ll know that they have to go to a hospital,” he maintained.

The symptoms of avian flu include fever, sore throat or cough and progressive difficulty of breathing. To date, there are 141 cases worldwide with 47 deaths due to severe pneumonia with multiple organ failure.

Hong Kong is the third area to have a case of human avian influenza.

A 36-year-old Indonesian domestic helper is now in serious condition at the Queen Mary Hospital.