PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the Department of Health (DOH) to implement tight monitoring of the Nipah virus (NiV), Malacañang said Thursday.
NiV is a zoonotic disease — one that spreads from animals to humans — in the same category as Covid-19 and Ebola. Authorities in Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia have ramped up airport screening to prevent the infection from spreading.
“The Bureau of Quarantine of the DOH continues to focus and watch over the Nipah virus that has been reported detected again in other countries. This is in accordance with the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to keep Filipinos safe from infectious diseases,” Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro said in Filipino during a briefing.
The DOH earlier maintained that despite confirmed cases in India, the possibility of NiV spreading in the country remains “rare” given that it has not been detected locally since 2014.
Castro said the DOH has aligned its health protocols with the latest updates from the World Health Organization. She advised the public to watch for symptoms such as fever, headache and breathing difficulty.
The virus can be transmitted through direct contact with infected animals, such as bats and pigs, and through contaminated fruits, according to health officials.
It causes a range of illnesses in infected people, from asymptomatic infection to acute respiratory illness and fatal encephalitis.
The virus, which has caused only a few known outbreaks in Asia, can also cause severe disease in animals, resulting in significant livestock losses.
The DOH has been conducting screening procedures at the country’s borders through on-arrival thermal scanning, trained observation and close scrutiny of online health declarations, Castro said.
“Let’s unite against the spread of infectious diseases. Be updated on the DOH’s health updates to stay safe,” she added.
