The Bureau of Quarantine has updated the electronic travel (eTravel) form for international travelers to help prevent the entry of a severe mpox variant from abroad, the Department of Health (DOH) announced Thursday.
The eTravel form, an online document that travelers must complete before departure and upon arrival in the Philippines, now includes a new question regarding recent illness. If a traveler answers “yes” to having been sick in the past 30 days, the form will provide a drop-down list that includes “rashes, vesicles, or blisters”—symptoms associated with mpox.
Other symptoms of mpox include fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, and swollen lymph nodes.
“It is important for all travelers to be honest in answering this question,” the DOH emphasized.
The DOH stated that this “small yet significant change” to the screening process aims to prevent the entry of mpox cases, particularly the Clade 1b variant, which is considered more severe and is causing global concern.
“If a traveler is flagged by the eTravel system for coming from a WHO-listed outbreak area, having a history of exposure to an mpox case, or displaying any signs or symptoms, the system will alert the Bureau of Immigration and the Bureau of Quarantine,” the DOH explained.
Affected travelers will be referred for secondary screening, and any suspected mpox cases will be transferred to a designated referral hospital.
The highly transmissible Clade 1b variant has resulted in hundreds of deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has also been detected in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Sweden.
So far, the Philippines has reported 14 mpox cases since 2022, with five active cases. The DOH noted that local cases involve the milder Clade 2 variant.
