The Department of Health (DOH) is now considering to include the United States of America in the recently imposed travel ban amid the reported new variant of COVID-19 abroad.
“Isasama natin pansamantala (We will include it temporarily). Remember this is not a permanent ban. This is a temporary ban to give us time to assess the situation and to check whether this new variant has already arrived in the Philippines,” DOH Sec. Francisco Duque III explained.
The resolution of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) clarified that Filipinos from the 20 countries earlier included in the travel ban will still be allowed to enter the Philippines but will be required to undergo 14-day quarantine despite having a negative RT-PCR test result.
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) is now preparing to prevent the overwhelming of hotel quarantine facilities due to the mandatory 14-day quarantine. In order to control the number of individuals staying in the said facilities, the One Stop Shop will be limiting its capacity to only 2,000 returning Filipinos daily from the previous count of 5,000. – Report from Karen Villanda
