World Health Organization (WHO) had received reports that there are 33 countries have officially reported 5728 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection. Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH) reported 46 cases, which 39 have negative results while 7 have still pending results.
Given the figures of WHO’s reported confirmed countries and patients around the world, Philippines is still blessed for having zero AN1H1 patient as of this writing. Remember that DOH is still monitoring 7 possible patients, we are not totally free.
Some countries have warned their citizens from going to AN1H1 infected countries, we do. And since we do not belong to infected countries, tourism is still ok. Filipinos prefer to travel within our country instead of going to our countries for fear of virus infection. A friend of mine who’s family spent their summer vacation in US yearly but change their plan this year. She could be one of other pinoys who thinks the same way. And their major reason is AH1N1 virus.
Come to think of it, if Philippines is still AN1H1-free country, we became one of the tourist destination of other countries. That’s good to our economy. What if they came from infected countries? Some of the 46 cases reported by DOH were admitted by private hospitals and not by DOH hospitals. Does it mean that they were negative when they passed through thermal scanners?
I still hope that the remaining 7 patients’ results will turn out negative.
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[...] That’s the irony of being zero AH1N1 infected country (for a while), we became tourist destination and also became unintentional target of those who want to avoid the deadly virus. Now, AH1N1 is bad for Philippines’ tourism. [...]