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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Visayas devider Bacolod steps up border control vs monkeypox

Bacolod steps up border control vs monkeypox

Published Jun 2, 2025 10:33 pm
BACOLOD CITY – Mayor Albee Benitez has ordered stepped up border control in all entry points here as a precautionary measure against monkeypox following reported cases in Iloilo City.
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In a press briefing on Monday, Benitez stressed the need to install scanners in airports and seaports to enable health authorities to identify a traveler or person entering the city with monkeypox symptoms.
“We just want make sure there is prevention in our borders. Since we have no case here, more so that we should intensify our border control,” Benitez said.
Benitez said that they plan to install a scanner at the Bredco Port here and will ask the provincial government and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) regarding the procurement of a scanner at the Bacolod-Silay Airport in Silay City, Negros Occidental.
He said that they would not be complacent despite the city having no monkeypox case.
Benitez said that he has asked the City Health Office to be very vigilant in detecting possible monkeypox carriers in the border.
He said that they have initiated measures to monitor people entering the city through the Bredco port and the Bacolod-Silay Airport.
Benitez said that they will assign personnel in these locations and have asked the CHO to determine if there is a need to wear face masks.
“But as of now they don’t see the need (to wear face masks),” Benitez said.
I understand that children, senior citizens, and those with comorbidities are vulnerable to the disease, he added.
Dr. Grace Tan, head of the CHO Environmental Sanitation Division, said that monkeypox can be mostly acquired through skin-to-skin contact with an infected person and sometimes through droplets.
In the initial phase, symptoms can be flu or fever or feeling sick, and can also be transmitted through surfaces touched by an infected person, she said.
Tan said that they have coordinated with the Bureau of Quarantine and intensified their information campaign on monkeypox.
She said they have considered the installation of scanners in the ports of entries and are awaiting the final guidelines from the Department of Health (DOH).
“If we know fever is one of the symptoms we can go ahead with that. We will not wait for the DOH to do this,” Benitez said.
The Iloilo City Health Office has confirmed four monkeypox cases and reported two suspected cases.
All six individuals are currently under isolation and monitoring to prevent the spread of the disease. The source of infection remains under investigation.

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