MANILA – The Department of Health and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) will discuss travel restrictions following reports of detection of United Kingdom’s new variant of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in more countries.
DOH Secretary Francisco T. Duque III on Sunday directed DOH technical teams and experts to review proposals for stricter control measures for travelers coming from countries that have reported cases of the new variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Experts’ recommendations will be presented to the IATF-EID in its meeting on Dec. 28.
The DOH, in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO), is closely monitoring countries with documented cases of the new variant. As previously issued by the DOH, these include Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia. Further, the DOH continues to monitor countries reporting other new local variants such as South Africa.
On top of recommending strict mandatory 14-day quarantine for incoming travelers from the identified countries, the DOH, with its panel of experts and WHO, are also looking at the possible restriction of entry of travelers from these countries.
This is being revisited alongside the new risk classification for provinces, highly urbanized cities (HUCs) and independent component cities (ICCs), and the anticipated post-holiday surge.
The Philippines, through President Rodrigo Duterte’s approval of IATF-EID Resolution No. 90, imposed a ban on all flights from the United Kingdom from December 24-31.During the December 26 meeting in Malacañang, Duterte approved the extension of the ban for an additional two weeks —the operational details of which are also slated to be discussed in the IATF meeting on Monday. (DOH PR)