The Philippines has come up with measures to prevent the spread of a new type of swine flu that is allegedly capable of triggering a pandemic.
Approved by the Philippines’ COVID-19 task force on Monday, the measures included setting up of inter-agency surveillance mechanisms for swine farms and workers especially those regularly exposed to pigs.
“This effort shall be actively linked to the global efforts to monitor the emerging disease. Further research on any emerging disease shall be conducted,” the task force said in a resolution released by Malacañang on Tuesday.
The Department of Health, Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Customs were also directed to strictly implement the Food Safety Act of 2013, particularly the provision on the handling of imported food at the port of entry.
Researchers in China discovered a new type of swine flu, named G4, which possesses “all the essential hallmarks of being highly adapted to infect humans,” according to a study published by the US science journal PNAS last week.
The scientists said G4 genetically descended from the H1N1 strain that caused a pandemic in 2009.
Bureau of Animal Industry officer-in-charge Ronnie Domingo said last week that the study only described the virus as “having the potential to mutate and cause public and animal health risks.”
The Philippines is grappling to contain the virus that causes COVID-19, which has killed 1,309 people in the country. —LDF, GMA News
