Kinumpirma ngayon ng Office of the President na anim pang mga bansa ang isinama na rin sa travel ban dahil pa rin sa pangamba sa bagong variant ng COVID-19 na unang natukoy mula sa United Kingdom.
Ayon kay Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque pansamantala munang ipagbabawal na makapasok ng Pilipinas ang mga pasahero na magmumula sa Portugal, India, Finland, Norway, Jordan at Brazil.
Ang travel ban ay epektibo simula sa Jan. 8, 2021 mula alas-12:01 ng madaling araw hanggang Jan 15, 2021.
“On the other hand, effective immediately, foreign passengers coming from, or who have been to the abovementioned countries/jurisdictions within 14 days immediately preceding arrival in the Philippines, arriving before January 8, 2021, 12:01AM, Manila time, shall be allowed to enter the Philippines. However, they shall be required to undergo an absolute facility-based 14-day quarantine period, even if they obtain a negative RT-PCR test result,” bahagi pa ng statement ni Sec. Roque. “Also, effective immediately, Filipino citizens coming from, or who have been to the abovementioned countries/jurisdictions, within 14 days immediately preceding arrival in the Philippines, including those arriving after January 8, 2021, 12:01AM, Manila time, shall be allowed to enter the Philippines. However, they shall be required to undergo an absolute facility-based 14-day quarantine period, even if they obtain a negative RT-PCR test result.”
Bago ang naging anunsiyo ni Sec. Roque, iniulat din ni DOH Usec. Maria Rosario Vergeire ang paghahain ng rekomendasyon ng Department of Health (DOH) at Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) sa pagpapatupad ng travel ban sa anim na iba pang bansa.
“DOH, DFA recommended the addition of 6 countries with official reports confirming the detection of the UK variant,” ani Vergeire sa isang media forum. “Until Jan 15 we are restricting travel from countries with confirmed UK variant.”
Una nang inilatag ang ang paghihigpit ng biyahe sa 21 mga bansa papuntang Pilipinas dahil sa naitalang kaso ng bagong COVID-19 variant sa kanilang mga lugar.
Kabilang na rito ang Amerika, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong sar, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, The Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, Sweden, South Korea, South Africa, Spain, at United Kingdom.
“The mandatory completion of 14 day quarantine and isolation period regardless of their RT-PCR results have been ineffect in our international ports of entry for all passengers with travel history from countries not included in the travel ban list.”
Binigyang diin ng DOH spokesperson na sa ngayon ay wala pang nade-detect na UK variant mula sa 305 positive samples na pinag-aralan ng Philippine Genome Center.
Kabilang ang “genome sequencing” o pagtukoy sa identity ng virus, sa mga dagdag na hakbang ngayong ng pamahalaan sa pagbabantay ng bagong COVID-19 variant.
Pinaalalahanan naman ng Health department ang publiko na sundin pa rin ang minimum health standards para maiwasan anumang banta ng coronavirus.
“We are still reminding everybody that everyone must strictly comply with the minimum health standards. Napakahalaga nito ngayon lalo na’t may banta ng bagong variant.”
