THE Department of Health (DOH) said it is “ready and on alert” for the possible entry of the Ebola virus in the country.
“We have been notified through the IHR (International Health Regulations) channels and are in active coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO),” the agency said in a statement on Sunday.
The WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern following an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with about 336 suspected cases and 88 deaths.
The DOH said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the outbreak a public health emergency due to factors that could worsen transmission, including humanitarian crises, population mobility, insecurity and the presence of informal health care facilities in affected areas.
However, the WHO clarified that the outbreak does not yet meet the criteria for a “pandemic emergency” under the International Health Regulations.
The 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa was the largest recorded in history, infecting nearly 29,000 people and having a fatality rate of around 40 percent.
During that period, Filipino United Nations peacekeepers returning from Liberia were subjected to a mandatory 21-day quarantine. No Ebola cases were recorded in the Philippines at the time.
“Ebola outbreaks were recorded in the Philippines in 1989, 1996, and 2008, all caused by the Orthoebolavirus restonense species (also known as the Reston virus) that does not cause illness in people,” the DOH said.
