MANILA, Oct. 23 (PNA) — To help ensure that the dreaded Ebola disease will not enter the country, the Coast Guard announced that it will determine the last five ports that foreign ships have visited before docking in the Philippines.
This was announced by Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson Cmdr. Armand Balilo Thursday.
This is to ensure that locations visited by the vessels are free from the Ebola epidemic, he said.
And as an added precaution, ship captains are required to report to the PCG if there are Ebola-like symptoms or death which their crew have experienced while en-route to the Philippines.
Ebola has so far caused 5,000 deaths in Western Africa.
Earlier, Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) administrator Maximo Mejia Jr. advised ship masters to avoid crew changes and to disallow seamen from availing themselves of shore leaves while calling on Ebola-affected ports.
Some 430,000 Filipino seafarers are estimated working aboard the international merchant marine fleet. (PNA)