Quarantine facilities for Pinoys from Ebola-hit countries confidential –DOH

To protect the privacy of Filipinos returning from Ebola-stricken countries in West Africa, the location of facilities where they will stay during a 21-day quarantine period will be kept confidential, the Department of Health said on Monday.

“We do not want them to be stigmatized,” DOH spokesman Dr. Lyndon Lee-Suy told reporters at the Department of Foreign Affairs. “If they do not feel comfortable then they might not cooperate.”

The government has raised an alert level 3 warning for Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone last month as the death toll in these countries has breached the 5,000 mark. Under this category, some 700 Filipinos there are urged to return home. A ban on the deployment of new workers is also being enforced.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said the government will start moving the Filipinos out of these countries very soon, but stressed that it will be on a “voluntary basis.”

“There are still some finishing touches,” Jose said at a press briefing. “Mechanisms need to be put in place.”

According to Lee, the government has identified possible quarantine areas outside of Metro Manila.

“We will not say where it is, but it will be comfortable. We want it to be close to a home,” he said, adding that each facility could house up to 30 Filipinos.

Last week, a group of Filipino peacekeepers from Liberia had to be isolated for 21 days on Caballo Island south of Metro Manila. They will go through another routine medical test at the end of the quarantine period on Dec. 3. —KBK, GMA News

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