The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday thumbed down calls of closing the country's borders amid the detection of the first monkeypox case in the Philippines.
In a media briefing, Health Officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said there is no recommendation from experts to close the country’s borders, or even from the World Health Organization, who earlier stated that the risk for the disease is low to moderate.
"We are not changing our restrictions in our borders. Even the WHO has declared that the threat of this virus is low to moderate risk. They said no one needs to shut down trade, that we don’t need to restrict our borders. There are no recommendations from our experts regarding this matter," Vergeire said.
"Closing our borders is somehow irrational at this point. Ang kailangan nating lahat gawin is to intensify our surveillance efforts," she added.
Last week, the DOH announced that the Philippines had recorded its first case of monkeypox — a 31-year-old patient who flew in on July 19.
The patient, who had travel histories in countries with documented cases of monkeypox virus, tested positive for the infectious disease through an RT-PCR test on July 28.
Vergeire said the country’s first monkeypox case, a 31-year-old male, is already recovering.
“Yung ating kaso po sa ating bansa ay patuloy na naga-isolate, getting well already. Nagre-recover na po. Yung kanyang mga lesions ay healing already, according to our doctor who monitors him. At lahat ng kanyang close contacts, yung sampu, ay still asymptomatic, still being quarantined,” said Vergeire.
She noted that there is no need to panic over the threat of monkeypox despite the first case.
“Let us not be paralyzed with fear. What we need is to become vigilant. We need to be informed about how the virus is transmitted, and how we can prevent it from spreading,” she said.
