ILOILO City – Flights from Hong Kong to Iloilo and vice versa will be cancelled for almost two months beginning Feb. 4 as part of measures to prevent the entry of the novel coronavirus to Iloilo, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).
CAAP-Iloilo Airport terminal supervisor Arthur Parreño said Cebu Pacific Air agreed to suspend the flights until March 29.
The novel coronavirus currently has an outbreak in Wuhan City, China. Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, has also recorded several infections.
Cebu Pacific, however, is maintaining its Iloilo to Singapore flights and vice versa, said Parreño.
Cebu Pacific is the only airline with international flights (Hong Kong and Singapore) from the Iloilo Airport in Cabatuan, Iloilo.
Yesterday the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency over the outbreak. It said there had been 98 cases outside China, but no deaths.
It said most international cases are in people who had been to Wuhan City. However, in eight cases – in Germany, Japan, Vietnam and the United States – patients were infected by people who had travelled to China.
On Thursday, Iloilo’s Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr., fearing a possible entry of people from China and elsewhere infected with the novel coronavirus, called for a temporary suspension of international flights at the Iloilo Airport.
He sent a letter to Leah Vallido, operation manager of Cebu Pacific Air in Iloilo.
Cebu Pacific’s central office subsequently issued an advisory. Part of it read: “In light of developments related to the Wuhan coronavirus, Cebu Pacific will be reducing flights between the Philippines, mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau from Feb. 5 to March 29, 2020.”
Passengers affected by flight cancellations have been notified through the contact details provided upon booking, the advisory stated.
They may also check the status of their flights through the Manage Booking portal in the Cebu Pacific website, https://book.cebupacificair.com/Manage/Retrieve/.
The following options are made available for passengers on cancelled flights:
* rebook the flight (new flight date within 30 days of original travel date)
* refund the tickets in full
* store the value of the ticket in a Travel Fund for future use
“We apologize for the inconvenience and thank our passengers for their understanding. We will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available,” the advisory concluded.
Defensor sought for the suspension of the international flights after the Department of Health on Thursday afternoon confirmed the Philippines’ first case of the novel coronavirus infection – a Chinese woman from Wuhan City.
The League of Municipalities of the Philippines – Iloilo also made a similar call.
It turned out that the woman took Cebu Pacific flights on Jan. 21 when she visited Cebu, Dumaguete City and Manila.
“We are in the process of contacting passengers seated in the vicinity of the positive patient and are taking the necessary precautions to inform them so they can have themselves checked in case they show flu-like symptoms,” stated Cebu Pacific yesterday in a separate advisory.
The cabin crew and pilots on affected flights have also been informed and showed no symptoms of illness, it added.
The aircraft used for both flights have been pulled-out of the line and are undergoing thorough disinfection.
To reduce the risk of infection across all of its flights, Cebu Pacific have started implementing preventive measures, which include:
* cleaning and disinfection of aircraft in between flights
* wearing of face masks by its employees, frontline personnel and cabin crew while on duty
* providing face masks to passengers who show symptoms of illness
* when possible, isolation of passengers who manifest symptoms of illness in empty rows inside the aircraft during the flight
* coordination with health authorities in case there are passengers suspected of contamination for immediate turn-over and further observation.
According to Parreño, despite the suspension of the Iloilo to Hong Kong flights and vice versa, his office would continue to enforce strict health safety protocols at the Iloilo Airport.
Bureau of Quarantine personnel have been posted on Aerobridge 3, the designated passageway of passengers arriving from abroad.
Two thermal scanners have also been activated to detect passengers with fever – one of the symptoms of those infected with the new coronavirus known also as 2019-nCoV.
“Feverish passengers would be ushered to an isolation room,” said Parreño.
Hospital authorities would be contacted for an ambulance that would take the passengers to the hospital for further examination.
“The suspected cases won’t be passing the passenger terminal but through the ramp in going to the waiting ambulance,” Parreño stressed.
CAAP-Iloilo has also made available hand sanitizers at Aerobridge 3 and other areas of the airport and is requiring arriving passengers to fill out truthfully health declaration cards./PN
