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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 2) Manila residents who vacationed outside of the National Capital Region will have to test negative for the coronavirus before they can return home, the city government said on Saturday.
Barangay officials have been informed of the requirement on December 22, according to a memorandum signed by the city’s acting health officer, Arnold Pangan. According to the order, residents returning to Manila starting January 2 must undergo a swab test or a real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test, considered the gold standard. to detect the presence of the virus.
Returnees must remain in designated quarantine facilities while awaiting test results. Only those who test negative will be allowed to leave, while those confirmed to have coronavirus disease will continue to be quarantined, the memo states.
In a message to reporters on Saturday, Julius Leonen, head of the city’s public information office, clarified that those who spent just one night outside of Metro Manila do not need to be tested, but are encouraged to do so. Those who visited other areas within the capital region can also volunteer for the swab test.
The tests will be administered to residents free of charge, Leonen said.
The city has registered a total of 24,948 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Of this number, 750 died while 23,900 have recovered, leaving 298 active cases.
Government officials had called on the public to stay home and limit holiday gatherings to household members to prevent further transmission of the virus. Still, the Health Department saw “the beginning of the increase” in infections even before Christmas.
The agency reported 1,097 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday despite incomplete data from 15 labs. The country has recorded a total of 476,916 infections, and the number is expected to rise further as data on the backlog comes in.
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