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By Efren L. Danao, Senior
Reporter
A Senate employee had been
diagnosed positive of the A(H1N1) virus, Senate President Juan Ponce
Enrile said Friday.
He did not identify the Senate
employee although it was learned that the flu victim is a female
working at the Senate Economic Planning Office (SEPO).
Her office is on the fifth floor,
between the offices of Senators Joker Arroyo and Manuel Roxas 2nd.
All senators hold their office on the fifth floor although few
report to work while Congress is in recess. Session will not resume
until July 27.
Dr. Mariano Blancia, head of the
Senate Medical-Dental Division, said the Senate employee is already
cured of the flu virus and could report for work on Monday.
Enrile said the Senate would
still undertake precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the
virus in the chamber. The Senate has 1,600 employees and numerous
visitors every working day.
“Starting Monday, we will
install a thermal scanner at the Senate to check if any who will
enter the Senate has fever,” he said.
Unlike the House, which cancelled
work for several days after one of its employees died of the virus,
the Senate will conduct its business as usual.
“All employees will report to
work. There will be no disruption. There is no reason to be alarmed.
As long as you drink a lot of kalamansi, you are safe,” Enrile
said.
Infected OFWs
The Philippine Embassy in Doha
disclosed that of the five new A(H1N1)flu cases reported by
Qatar’s Supreme Health Council, two are Filipinos.
“The five cases are
currently under quarantine and being provided with antiviral
medicines,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said in its report.
The Xiamen Philippine Consulate
General also reported that a Filipino national has been confirmed
positive of the virus on June 30. To date, there are a total of 766
confirmed flu cases in Mainland China.
The Philippine Embassy in
Pretoria, South Africa, for its part, has been disseminating
information on the virus to members of the Filipino community amid
four confirmed A(H1N1) cases there.
The Philippine posts located in
Yangon in Myanmar, Oslo in Norway, Beirut in Lebanon, Sydney in
Australia, Guangzhou in China, Abuja in Africa, and Caracas in
Venezuela reported confirmed cases of the A(H1N1) in their
respective areas, but none of them were Filipinos.
DOH: stay at home
The Department of Health (DOH) is
advising sick people who are not high-risk patients to just stay at
home as medical facilities are now congested with alarmed patients
who wanted to be tested for possible Influenza A(H1N1) infection.
Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd
said most cases in the country are mild and that most can recover
from the disease with sufficient rest and anti-flu medication.
Health authorities admitted that
hospitals and medical facilities assigned by the DOH as referral
centers for A(H1N1) are now being flooded with individuals
exhibiting only the slightest flu-like symptoms.
The Research Institute for
Tropical Medicine has been receiving many requests for testing that
results can only be released after about three days. At the Lung
Center, almost 100 people every day fall in line to get a test.
A health official, however, asked
the public to help ease the burden of the medical personnel by
assessing if their flu is mild or not.
“We must be socially
responsible because if many people would ask for a test, it will be
a burden on our public health services, particularly in the lab
examinations,” said Dr. Vito Roque of the DOH’s National
Epidemiology Center.
Duque also stressed that
high-risk patients are being prioritized because government
hospitals may soon run out of testing kits if all people feeling ill
insist on getting tested.
High-risk individuals include
patients with preexisting medical conditions such as asthma,
diabetes, cardiovascular disease, immunosuppression, HIV/AIDs, TB,
pregnant women and the very young and the elderly.
The Health department is also
putting emphasis that risk factors include history of travel to
A(H1N1)-affected countries, direct contact with people confirmed to
have the A(H1N1) virus.
Those who fall under the low-risk
category can stay at home and get some rest and medication there.
Latest report from the Health
department disclose that there are 1,709 confirmed A(H1N1) cases in
the country. Globally, there were 77,201 reported cases and 332
deaths as of July 1.
With Llanesca T. Panti and
Rommel C. Lontayao
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