MANILA – Malacañang will impose new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing and quarantine protocols on Feb. 1 for people coming from abroad to curb the spread of the more infectious variants of COVID-19.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) came up with the much stricter protocols as a precautionary measure against the new variants.
According to Roque, arriving passengers, regardless of their origin if it is included in countries with travel restrictions, will be required to undergo facility-based quarantine upon arrival. Then they will undertake a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test on the fifth day from the date of arrival unless the passenger shows symptoms at an earlier date while on quarantine.
“Appropriate patient management shall be observed,” Roque said. “Those who tested negative will be endorsed to their respective local government units, which will strictly monitor the remainder of their 14-day quarantine.”
The country imposed entry restrictions on foreign passengers from 35 countries as a preventive measure against the new variants. The travel restrictions enacted will last on Jan. 31 until further extended by the government.
DOH earlier announced that the UK variant of COVID-19 has been detected in 17 patients in the country which is in addition to the index case of the 29-year-old male in Quezon City who was identified to be the first infected with the UK variant of the virus.
Of the 17 patients, 12 are in Bontoc, Mountain Province; one in La Trinidad, Benguet; one in Calamba, Laguna; and one in Binangonan, Rizal.
Despite the increase in the number of cases, the DOH said there was “no strong evidence” of community transmission of the UK variant based on the benchmarks set by the World Health Organization./PN
