By Chito Chavez A Quezon City councilor asked the city’s shopping malls to use thermal scanners to protect the public from the dreaded novel Coronavirus (nCoV). Images of people are seen on a display screen of a thermal scanner installed at a shopping mall in Bangkok on January 29, 2020.
(Photo by Mladen ANTONOV / AFP / MANILA BULLETIN) Second District Councilor Winston Castelo stressed the urgency of compelling the city’s shopping malls to use thermal scanners to detect symptoms of the highly contagious disease. “Thermal scanners are useful in areas where people converge such as malls prone to nCoV carriers,’’ Castelo said. “With this equipment present in malls, we can help prevent the spread of the virus, the likelihood of which is very high if one unsuspecting carrier decides to go shopping,” he added. Castelo noted a partnership between mall owners and the government led by the Department of Health (DOH) can make the measure very effective. “The fight against nCoV requires everybody’s cooperation. The government can’t do it alone. The private sector has to lend a helping hand,” Castelo maintained. “We are trying all possible means to defend our people from this sickness which has already cost so many lives in China and may continue to do so in many parts of the world if we don’t get our acts together,” he stressed. Latest reports said “the flu-like virus has killed at least 170 people, all of them in China. The report noted that more than 7,700 others have been infected in more than a dozen countries, including five confirmed cases in the United States. “But we shouldn’t be scared of the statistics. Rather, let’s be more prepared to face the challenge,” Castelo said.