Expansion of PH’s travel ban on new COVID-19 variant to be based solely on official reports – DOH

MANILA – Health and foreign affairs departments will make recommendations on expanding the list of countries covered by the Philippines’ travel ban on the new COVID-19 variant based on reports confirmed by official channels of foreign governments, the department said Tuesday. of health.

“The list of countries included in the travel restrictions will be periodically updated to include countries that will officially report the detection of the variant,” DOH said in a statement.

DOH and the Department of Foreign Relations can make recommendations on which countries should be included in the travel ban, with final approval from the president.

Currently, foreign nationals from 20 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, and the Chinese city of Hong Kong are prohibited from entering the Philippines to prevent the spread of the new COVID-19 variant.

The health department cited Resolution No. 91 of the Interagency Working Group on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), which allows the Office of the President to impose restrictions on travelers from countries where the new and more transmissible COVID-19 variant has been detected.

The DOH said recommendations to add more countries to the travel ban would be based on official confirmation through: (1) the official detection of the variant in a country as published on the official channels of the respective government, or ( 2) the official notification of a country to the International Health Regulations (IHR).

The IHR is a binding legal instrument under the World Health Organization that “defines the rights and obligations of countries in handling public health events and emergencies that have the potential to cross borders,” the agency says on its website. .

“Unofficial reports, including those reported by the media, do not qualify as official sources and therefore cannot be used as a basis for recommending travel restrictions from a specific country,” DOH said.

DOH previously said that it was having difficulty confirming the presence of the new strain in other countries due to a lack of official communication.

The agency said travelers from countries not included in the travel ban list will be “supported by Local Government Units (LGUs) by producing negative RT-PCR results at the point of entry.”

Even with a negative COVID-19 test, the DOH asked LGUs to ensure that travelers complete the necessary 14-day quarantine at home or in an isolation facility.

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– report by Kristine Sabillo, ABS-CBN News