DOH PR
Pursuant to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) Resolution No. 91, as approved by the President on 29 December 2020, the Office of the President may impose restrictions to travelers coming from countries–not included in the initial list–that report the presence of the new variant of COVID-19 based on the joint recommendation of the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
In view of this, the list of countries included in the travel restrictions shall be regularly updated to include countries who will officially report detection of the variant. As such, the DOH and DFA’s joint recommendation for the inclusion of a country in the said list may only be based on official sources, specifically: (1) the official detection of the variant in a country as published in the respective government’s official channels, or (2) official notification of a country to the International Health Regulations. Unofficial reports, including those reported by media outlets do not qualify as official sources and therefore cannot be used as basis in recommending travel restrictions from a specific country.
Meanwhile, travelers from countries not included in the travel ban list shall be endorsed to the Local Government Units (LGU) upon yielding negative RT-PCR results at the point of entry. Despite negative results, LGUs are strongly urged to ensure that travelers complete their 14 day quarantine period either at a facility or at home.
