By Tara Yap Iloilo City—The airports in Kalibo town, Aklan province and Iloilo province are both stepping up their monitoring against the novel coronavirus. “Monitoring has been heightened because these two airports have international flights,” said Dr. Jessie Glen Alonsabe, chief epidemiologist for Western Visayas region of the Department of Health (DOH). Alonsabe told Manila Bulletin that DOH’s Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) is closely working with the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) in this task. Of the two airports, bulk of the monitoring is done at Kalibo Airport, which is the entry point for the popular beach destination of Boracay Island. To recall, three Chinese tourists bound for Boracay were temporarily quarantined when they arrived at the Kalibo Airport feverish or had difficulty breathing. A flight attendant also underwent self-quarantine after arriving from Wuhan, where the first novel coronavirus case was found. Art Parreño, CAAP Iloilo Airport terminal supervisor, clarified the monitoring of passengers is only for those coming from international flights, especially from China. However, the monitoring procedures for incoming passengers differ at each airport. Inbound passengers at Kalibo are screened while still inside the plane. This is largely due to the lack of the aerobridge, the enclosed walkway connecting the airplane to the airport terminal. “If they walk in the open air and it’s hot, it affects their body temperature,” Alonsabe explained. On the other hand, there is a terminal scanner at the Iloilo Airport. “If the passengers have the symptoms, they are put in the isolation room prior to being transported to a hospital,” Parreño added.