Manila Street

A(H1N1) is spreading like wildfire in Manila. According to the news update last night, the number of patients already reached to almost two thousand. It’s just amazing that most people seem to remain calm and collected in this situation. In fact people can still joke about it. You can see it in tabloids, gag shows, radio programs, etc. But it doesn’t mean that we Manilans are not taking precautionary measures. As a matter of fact, we have been discouraged at work to greet each other by kissing also known as beso-beso in the Filipino culture. Aside from the thermal scanning before entering the gates of the company premises, we are advised to refrain from greeting friends by a kiss because that’s one way of spreading the virus. But some habits are hard to break. Me and my friends are used to making beso everytime we see each other so we always tend to forget that we are no longer supposed to kiss. Other things such as proper hand washing and covering our mouths while sneezing are quite easy. But the beso thing is different. It’s a good thing that DOH (Deparment of Health) has made an announcement that there is nothing to be scared about. The virus that infected a lot of Filipinos is just mild and that Dengue is still more fatal. Health authorities claim that there is no need to panic in this influenza outbreak and that they are on top of the situation. Which gave me a peace of mind. So as of today, everything is still normal except for the beso.