4 Pinoy nurses have MERS in Saudi – DFA

Four Filipino nurses in Saudi Arabia are infected with the deadly MERS Coronavirus, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday.
 
Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said the Filipinos – three females and one male - work in the same hospital and have been exposed to MERS-COV patients in the course of their work.
 
“Our embassy was assured by the hospital management that they were given the best treatment possible,” Jose said.
 
Jose declined to provide their identities, but said the male worker is 55 years old and the three others are aged 29, 32 and 50.
 
Two female nurses are currently in the Intensive Care Unit and according to Jose, the level of infection is likely to be in the advanced stage.
 
“We were assured that they will be given the best treatment. Many have recovered from MERS because they were given immediate treatment,” he said.
 
The other Filipino is in isolation and another one is placed under observation, he added.
 
Symptoms of MERS-COV, according to the World Health Organization, include fever, cough, shortness of breath and even diarrhea.
 
Hundreds of Filipino health workers are scattered in hospitals across the Middle East, making them vulnerable to acquiring the virus.
 
The Philippines is not imposing any travel restrictions to and from the Arabian Peninsula, but has called on Filipinos in the Middle East to exercise vigilance and practice health precautions for their own protection.
 
“We reiterate our previous advisory to our workers to take extra precaution by attention to their personal hygiene. For those working in hospitals they should strictly follow the infection prevention protocols and for those who experience symptoms to report to the hospital immediately,” Jose said.
 
Since 2013, a total of 10 Filipinos, eight from Saudi and two from the United Arab Emirates, have died from contracting the virus, which is prevalent in the Middle East. — RSJ, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Russia captures town after 2 years of Ukrainian resistance --- Reuters

Russian forces now control 98.5% of Luhansk, 60% of Donetsk MOSCOW: Russian troops on Wednesday took charge of the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, a bastion that had resisted intense attacks since Russia launched its full-scale assault in 2022. The advance of Moscow's forces, which control just under a fifth of Ukraine, has underlined Russia's vast superiority in men and materiel as Ukraine pleads for more weapons from the Western allies that have been supporting it. Ukraine's eastern military command said it had ordered a pullback from the hilltop coal mining town to avoid encirclement by Russian troops and "preserve personnel and military equipment". The Russian defense ministry did not mention Vuhledar in its daily battlefield report. Russian Telegram channels, however, published video of troops waving the Russian tricolor flag over shattered buildings. The town, which had a population of over 14,000 before the war, has been devastated, with Soviet-era
Read more

Vietnam condemns China's 'brutal behavior' in fisher attack ---- Agence France-Presse

HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam's foreign ministry condemned on Wednesday China's "brutal behavior" during a violent attack on Vietnamese fishers in the disputed South China Sea. The 10 fishermen were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars' worth of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands -- an archipelago in the resource-rich waterway claimed by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. Vietnam "resolutely protests the brutal behavior of Chinese law enforcement forces against Vietnamese fishermen and fishing vessels operating in the Hoang Sa archipelago of Vietnam", foreign ministry spokesperson Vietnam Pham Thu Hang said in a statement, using the Vietnamese term for the Paracel Islands. "The above actions of Chinese law enforcement forces seriously violated Vietnam's sovereignty" over the archipelago, the statement said. Four of the Vietnamese crew were taken to hospital on Monday
Read more

UP Diliman Professors Share Scientists’ Procurement Struggles at Senate Hearing

By Harvey Sapigao Senate hearing of the revised procurement law (Photo credit: Senate of the Philippines) College of Science (CS) Dean Giovanni Tapang held up a little white device as he finished his presentation. “This is a ₱150,000 component,” he described. “Isa lang gumagawa nito sa buong mundo, pero ang hirap pilitin sila na magregister sa PhilGEPS,” he continued, referring to the requirement that foreign companies must first register to the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) before they can sell products to local scientists. Marine Science Institute (MSI) Deputy Director Dr. Irene Rodriguez explained that the small device is a resin that filters metals in water. “May budget tayo,” she said, “pero ang problema ko ay ‘yung resin na ito.” This and other bottlenecks brought about by the procurement law, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184), slow down research and development in the country. UPD leaders were invited to the Senate he
Read more