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PHILIPPINES traveling abroad are no longer required to undergo an antigen test prior to their departure, Malacañang announced on Friday.
Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said the Interagency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) eliminated the use of antigen testing as a pre-boarding requirement for outbound Filipino travelers.
Roque said in a statement that the latest decision modified IATF Resolution 79 which called for a negative antigen test result taken within 24 hours before departure.
Antigen tests will serve as a substitute for real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests.
Antigen tests, which also use swab samples, can reveal or detect whether a person is infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Compared to RT-PCR tests, it only takes 15-30 minutes to display results.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended the use of antigen tests in case of unavailability of RT-PCR tests, congregation settings, or outbreaks.
The government suspended round-trip travel when the Philippines closed in March.
The IATF initially allowed non-essential outbound travel by Filipinos in its Resolution 52 published in July, but this was temporarily suspended after only one insurance company agreed to meet the conditions to cover booking changes, accommodation and hospitalization expenses. in case a traveler hires. the coronavirus.
However, those with confirmed reservations as of July 20, 2020, were able to continue their non-essential outbound travel.
The Immigration Office said Thursday that the number of Filipino tourists departing remains low even after the government allowed the resumption of non-essential one-way travel from Wednesday.
Immigration data showed that only 95 Filipinos left on a tourist visa on Wednesday, out of a total of 1,172 Filipinos who left.
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