The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) on Wednesday announced it is implementing the existing protocol for monitoring arriving passengers through the use of thermal scanners and health declaration forms submitted via e-Travel form.
The MIAA management announced this in light of reports stating that airports in Thailand, Nepal, and Taiwan have heightened their surveillance and health checks following the Nipah virus outbreak in India.
“Usually, the Department of Health (DOH), through the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ), leads in imposing stricter protocols related to health concerns at our ports. Up to this point, we have not monitored any new directives from them,” the MIAA stated in response to reporters’ inquiries regarding any new health guidelines at Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
“The existing procedure of screening incoming passengers with thermal scanners and the health declaration forms submitted through e-Travel continues to be executed by the BOQ,” it added.
The e-Travel System is a digital platform for collecting data on passengers arriving in and departing from the Philippines. It is being used for border control, health surveillance, and economic data analysis.
Travelers who are either departing from or arriving in the Philippines must complete their registration on the e-Travel portal at least 72 hours before their flights.
To avert the occurrence of Mpox cases in the Philippines in 2024, the BOQ made a decision to require travelers to check in the e-Travel form with a “yes or no” when asked if they have been sick in the past 30 days, experienced rashes, vesicles, or blisters.
Citing an earlier statement from Health Department officials, Consuelo Bungag, head of the MIAA media affairs division, said the DOH assured that “there is no need to raise the alert level at this time because the country’s borders are under strict and continuous surveillance.”
Airport and quarantine officials have urged travelers to provide truthful answers to the questions on the e-Travel form to ascertain the traveler’s history prior to their arrival at the airports.
The Philippine government previously indicated that the Nipah virus does not pose a threat in the country, emphasizing that the DOH “is not sleeping.”
