Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
50 bank employees quarantined
06/05/2009
MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE 3) About 50 employees of the United Coconut Planters Bank in Makati City have been quarantined after a foreign consultant showed “flu-like signs,” an official told INQUIRER.net Friday.
But UCPB Branch Banking Group head Edmond Bernardo said the decision to “sanitize” the remittance section of the building, located along Makati Avenue, was just a precautionary measure.
“UCPB has no confirmed case but are taking necessary precautions after a Malaysian consultant who just returned from vacation in Malaysia exhibited flu-like signs,” Bernardo said.
“After the La Salle incident, the bank management says they want to be sure and sent the consultant home yesterday, while the 50, asked to observe home quarantine, will just stay until office hours Friday,” he said.
The Department of Health (DoH) on Friday confirmed a third case of Influenza A(H1N1) infection at the De La Salle University in Manila, where over 1,000 faculty and students were placed under home quarantine to stop the spread of the disease.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque said no AH1N1 infection has been confirmed in the UCPB building even as the National Epidemiology Center said business establishments “must have their own contingency plans.”
“We don’t impose quarantine on cases under observation or suspected cases in business offices. Work settings should have their own plans, unlike in schools with similar settings that have students and faculty who have contacts on a daily basis,” said NECD Director Dr. Eric Tayag.
“Offices must have their own contingency plans based on the risk assessment of the situation,” Tayag said.
“Once the DoH have confirmed a case, that is the time we coordinate with the concerned officials and advise them to follow guidelines such as observation of a 10-day quarantine of the confirmed case and his contacts, starting from the date the case was confirmed,” said Duque.
Aside from the new case at DLSU, the DoH confirmed three more A(H1N1) cases, all of whom came from the United States, bringing to 33 the total number of A(H1N1) cases in the country.
Classes at DLSU were suspended for 10 days earlier this week after a female Japanese exchange student was confirmed infected with the potentially deadly flu virus.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090605-208990/50-bank-employees-quarantined
06/05/2009
MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE 3) About 50 employees of the United Coconut Planters Bank in Makati City have been quarantined after a foreign consultant showed “flu-like signs,” an official told INQUIRER.net Friday.
But UCPB Branch Banking Group head Edmond Bernardo said the decision to “sanitize” the remittance section of the building, located along Makati Avenue, was just a precautionary measure.
“UCPB has no confirmed case but are taking necessary precautions after a Malaysian consultant who just returned from vacation in Malaysia exhibited flu-like signs,” Bernardo said.
“After the La Salle incident, the bank management says they want to be sure and sent the consultant home yesterday, while the 50, asked to observe home quarantine, will just stay until office hours Friday,” he said.
The Department of Health (DoH) on Friday confirmed a third case of Influenza A(H1N1) infection at the De La Salle University in Manila, where over 1,000 faculty and students were placed under home quarantine to stop the spread of the disease.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque said no AH1N1 infection has been confirmed in the UCPB building even as the National Epidemiology Center said business establishments “must have their own contingency plans.”
“We don’t impose quarantine on cases under observation or suspected cases in business offices. Work settings should have their own plans, unlike in schools with similar settings that have students and faculty who have contacts on a daily basis,” said NECD Director Dr. Eric Tayag.
“Offices must have their own contingency plans based on the risk assessment of the situation,” Tayag said.
“Once the DoH have confirmed a case, that is the time we coordinate with the concerned officials and advise them to follow guidelines such as observation of a 10-day quarantine of the confirmed case and his contacts, starting from the date the case was confirmed,” said Duque.
Aside from the new case at DLSU, the DoH confirmed three more A(H1N1) cases, all of whom came from the United States, bringing to 33 the total number of A(H1N1) cases in the country.
Classes at DLSU were suspended for 10 days earlier this week after a female Japanese exchange student was confirmed infected with the potentially deadly flu virus.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090605-208990/50-bank-employees-quarantined