ILOILO – Is it time for the Iloilo Airport to resume servicing international flights? Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. is hesitant, citing the threat of monkeypox.
The Iloilo Airport in Cabatuan town used to service direct flights to Singapore and Hong Kong. But at the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in March 2020, Defensor asked the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines to suspend international flights at the airport.
Now, after over two years, there is an expectation that the Iloilo Airport will reopen to international flights. That’s because just this June as COVID-19 infections started dropping and more people got vaccinated, international flights – mainly from South Korea – resumed at the Kalibo International Airport in Kalibo, Aklan, the international gateway to the world-famous Boracay Island.
“Dali lang. Nagapanilag anay kami kay may bag-o nga development – monkeypox,” said Defensor.
Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe.
Last month, the Department of Health (DOH) reported the country’s first case of the monkeypox virus – a citizen who returned from abroad. The 31-year-old had recovered.
According to Defensor, he wanted monkeypox health protocols set first before agreeing to the Iloilo Airport resuming servicing international flights.
He does not want to risk the health of the Ilonggos, he stressed.
Defensor said he would like to first observe how it’s being done at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Metro Manila.
Early this week, Defensor started discussing with the capitol’s Public Employment Service Office and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Region 6 the protocols for returning overseas Filipino workers.
“Dira na mahalin ang sabat ko kon puede na kita maka-(re)open (international flights),” said Defensor.
On Aug. 1, DOH said it was confident that its surveillance teams would be able to detect all cases of monkeypox that would enter the country.
DOH Officer-in-Charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the agency deployed surveillance teams in airports and other points of entry as early as May and briefed its personnel what to look out for in a monkeypox infection.
The Bureau of Quarantine is likewise coordinating with the DOH for the surveillance of the disease.
“So we have this kind of capability for surveillance and katulad niyan nakapag-detect tayo ng unang kaso so we are confident na sana ay lahat naman ay ma-detect natin kung makapasok dito sa ating bansa,” Vergeire said.
Vergeire said isolation of monkeypox-infected individuals takes up to 21 days after their symptoms, especially the rashes, have resolved.
She said incubation period for the disease ranges from five to 21 days.
Those who were tagged as close contacts of a case can isolate at home since the disease is not airborne and is contracted through direct contact, the Health official added./PN