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DOH eyes Covid-19 test exemption for Pinoys vaccinated abroad
MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) said it would recommend exempting Filipinos who have been fully vaccinated abroad from testing for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) upon their arrival in the country.
In an online media forum, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire noted that current government guidelines only allow the non-requirement of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing for Filipinos who have been fully vaccinated in the country.
“Gaya po nitong gagawin nating sistema with our green lanes, yung mga nabakunahan na po dito sa Pilipinas at sila po ay aalis, pagbalik na lang seven days na lang ang quarantine (The system with our green lanes, those who were vaccinated here in the Philippines and they go abroad and come back, there will only be seven days quarantine) without any testing at all,” she said.
After seven days, they may be discharged from quarantine if they do not have symptoms of the infection and would simply be monitored by their local government.
“Ganyan din po ang ating nire-rekomenda to those vaccinated abroad pabalik dito, pero hindi pa po natin iyan naipa-finalize kasi (We’re recommending the same to those vaccinated abroad going back here, but we haven’t finalized that) we need means of verification of their vaccine status or their vaccination cards,” Vergeire said.
Since the number of infections has increased due to the detection of the more transmissible variants, Vergeire said testing returning Filipino travelers for Covid-19 is an important part of the government’s response to fight the pandemic.
“We should be cautious kaya nga po ang pinapatupad natin unti-unti po ang pagluwag para sa mga fully-vaccinated until we can reach that coverage na pwede natin masabi na magiging safe po ang ating mga kababayan kapag hindi na po natin sila kwina-quarantine at tine-test (so we’re implementing the ease of travel restrictions gradually for the fully vaccinated until we can reach that coverage where we can say it’s already safe for our fellowmen not to quarantine and test),” she added.
On Friday the government said the implementation of a seven-day facility-based quarantine period for returning overseas Filipino workers and travelers who have been fully vaccinated in the country will start on June 22.
