THE government on Tuesday warned all Filipinos living or working in and traveling to Singapore to avoid crowded places after the island state confirmed 56 cases of locally transmitted Zika virus infection, particularly in the Sims Drive and Aljunied Crescent areas.
In a text message, Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said they have already instructed their embassy in Singapore to immediately issue a precautionary advisory to the Filipino community in Singapore to minimize the risk of being infected by the deadly virus.
The Singapore Ministry of Health recently confirmed the 41 cases.
In an advisory, the Philippine embassy said pregnant women who are living in the affected areas should immediately seek medical attention if symptoms like fever and rash appeared.
“Pregnant women should adopt strict mosquito precaution if traveling to affected areas,” the Philippine embassy said.
Since one of the transmissions of Zika is through unprotected penetration, the embassy also advised the sexual partners of pregnant women to “practice safe sex” or “consider abstinence throughout the women’s pregnancy.”
The Philippine embassy also advised the Filipinos to continue to cooperate with efforts of the National Environment Agency, especially in the conduct of inspections, fogging and public education outreach.
The embassy also asked Filipinos to regularly check the Singapore government’s web page on Zika.
In addition, the Philippine embassy also urged Filipinos to observe general preventive measures such as using insect repellants; window and door screens; and wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants.
“Read up on the symptoms of Zika. Once you exhibit symptoms, go to the nearest hospital to have yourself checked,” the embassy said.
Filipino health workers were encouraged to strictly comply with infection control protocols in their work place.
“If you have tested positive for Zika, inform the Philippine embassy immediately,” the embassy said adding that it is ready to assist all Filipinos infected with the virus.
According to World Health Organization, the Zika virus is an emerging mosquito-borne virus that was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys through a monitoring network of sylvatic yellow fever.
It was subsequently identified in humans in 1952 in Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania.
Outbreaks of Zika virus disease have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific. There is no specific treatment or vaccine currently available.
People with Zika virus disease usually have a mild fever, skin rash (exanthema) and conjunctivitis (redness of eyes). These symptoms normally last for 2-7 days.
Zika virus entered the United States in February 2016.
In the US, cases of Zika infection was detected in 11 states and in Washington DC, where 31 Americans were reportedly diagnosed with the virus which they contracted while traveling abroad.
The Philippine embassy in Washington D.C. has long released an advisory to all Filipinos in the United States to take extra precautions.
Members of the Filipino-American community, the embassy said, are further advised to learn more about the Zika virus disease—its cause, symptoms, methods of transmission, preventive measures, and confirmed cases—by visiting the websites of the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“As the World Health Organization [WHO] declares the current spread of the Zika virus a public health emergency of international concern, the Philippine government, through the Department of Health, has advised its citizens to remember and use ‘4S’ against Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases,” the embassy said.
The 4S stands for: Search and destroy mosquito breeding places, use Self-protection measures, Seek early consultation for fever lasting more than two days, and Say yes to fogging when there is an impending outbreak.
Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Eddie Villanueva Monreal ordered his men to double their alert against the possible entry of Zika virus in the country following reports that a Malaysian national residing in Singapore was found infected.
“The Department of Health is closely coordinating with the airport authority and gave a directive to intensify the monitoring. We are doing this just like before,” said Monreal.
So far, according to Monreal, there have been no cases of passengers infected with the said virus at the country’s premier international airport.
Over the weekend, Singapore reported the first locally-transmitted case of the Zika virus, with three other suspect infections pending confirmation. The patient was a 47-year-old Malaysian woman.
The DoH said the Philippines still remains free of Zika virus as there were no registered cases.
The Zika virus outbreak began in Brazil early last year and has spread to neighboring countries.
In the United States, more than 2,500 people have been diagnosed with Zika, with most of them being infected while traveling abroad.
Zika causes only mild symptoms for most people. But in pregnant women it can cause microcephaly, a deformation in which babies are born with abnormally small brains and heads.
In Manila, the city government gave an additional P60 million fund to six public hospitals in the city as part of the local government’s health program and beef up its response capability against serious disease like Zika virus.
The local government is also in strict compliance and close coordination with the Department of Health and in the process of sending out information bulletins to the different city hospitals to raise awareness about Zika.
Singapore on Monday confirmed more Zika infections as mosquito-fighting teams saturated the scene of the outbreak amid growing public alarm.
In a statement, the Ministry of Health and the National Environment Agency said they had found 15 new cases of locally transmitted Zika virus, all in an eastern suburban area known as Aljunied, up from 41 on Sunday.
Most of those affected were foreign workers at a condominium construction project.
Nearly all have recovered, but doctors said more Singaporean women were asking to be tested.
On Monday, inspectors from the environment agency checking for mosquito-breeding sites visited homes in the area as well as dormitories housing foreign workers.
“It’s quite frightening because I thought Zika is something happening on the other side of the world. But now it’s right here in my neighborhood,” customer service manager Josephine Kwan, who lives in the affected suburb, said.
Singapore, despite the highest health care standards in Southeast Asia, is a densely populated tropical island with frequent rain. Mosquitoes breed in stagnant water that collects in construction sites, open space and homes.
It is also one of Asia’s cleanest cities but has a chronic problem with dengue fever, which is spread by the same Aedes mosquito that carries the Zika virus.
Singapore’s first reported case of Zika in May involved a man who had visited Sao Paulo in Brazil earlier in the year.
But all of the latest cases involved local transmission.
The Straits Times newspaper quoted local doctor Tan Thai Keng, whose surgery reported four of the latest cases, as saying more women were visiting the clinic as news of the outbreak spread.
They included a pregnant 32-year-old.
“She wanted to find out whether she had the virus in her blood or not. So we took her blood here and sent it to the lab at Tan Tock Seng,” he said, referring to the main national hospital for communicable diseases.
Neighboring countries took steps to prevent the spread of the disease from Singapore.
Taiwan on Monday issued a travel advisory for Singapore, urging travelers to watch out for mosquito bites and cautioning pregnant women and those planning to conceive to postpone trips to all areas with Zika cases.
Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines have also said health officers will closely monitor arrivals from Singapore, which was visited by 15 million people in 2015.
In the city-state inspectors armed with insecticide spray cans on Monday visited high-rise public housing flats to check toilets and other areas for stagnant water.
Owners of homes found with such sites can be fined up to Sg$5,000 ($3,700).
The environment agency said it had inspected 3,600 premises and found and destroyed 36 mosquito “breeding habitats.”
Contractors in protective gear carried out insecticide fogging in public places, pumping a mosquito-killing mist over large areas on the ground.
Of the 41 Zika cases confirmed Sunday by the government, 36 were foreigners working at a condominium construction site.
Work was halted at the site on Saturday after environment agency officers found that housekeeping was “unsatisfactory with potential breeding habitats” for mosquitoes.
The latest global outbreak of the disease began in Brazil in early 2015. With Joel E. Zurbano, AFP