Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the rest of her travel cabinet secretaries will go on self-quarantine for an unspecified number of days when they returned on Saturday from a 10-day swing of Japan and Brazil with stopovers in the United States and Colombia, the presidential palace said Wednesday.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said in a news briefing that Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, who is with the President, informed him about the decision.
He said the "intention" of the move is for other inbound travelers to follow suit so they would not infect others if, during the quarantine period, they show symptoms of the A/H1N1 influenza.
"If the President herself is submitting herself to thermal scanning, why not others? Also self-quarantine," he said.
Among those with the President in Brazil are Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, Trade Secretary Peter Favila, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, and Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral, and the President's husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo.
By Wednesday, the Philippine health authorities have reported 604 confirmed A/H1N1 cases, including one death. But Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said 77 percent of the cases, or 464 patients, have recovered. |
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