PH names ‘green’ countries, jurisdictions

MANILA – The Philippines has released a list of “green” countries and jurisdictions which refer to places whose Covid-19 vaccinations will qualify passengers to a shorter quarantine period upon arrival in the Philippines.

In a press statement on Wednesday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque named 57 countries and jurisdictions that will be given green lane policy for arriving passengers.

The 57 countries and jurisdictions are as follows:
Albania
American Samoa
Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Australia
Benin
Belize
The British Virgin Islands
Brunei
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cayman Islands
Chad
China
Cote d’ Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
Eswatini
Falkland Islands
French Polynesia
Gambia
Ghana
Greenland
Grenada
Hong Kong
Iceland
Isle of Man
Israel
Laos
Liberia
Malawi
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritius
Micronesia
Montserrat
Morocco
Mozambique
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Niger
Nigeria
Northern Mariana Islands
Palau
Rwanda
Saba
Saint Barthelemy
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Sierra Leone
Senegal
Singapore
Sint Eustatius
South Korea
Taiwan
Togo
Turks and Caicos Islands (UK)
Vietnam
Zimbabwe

Roque said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) likewise resolved that the option of presenting Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) validations as proof of vaccination status is exclusive to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), and the POLOs shall start accepting applications for validation starting July 5, 2021.

OFWs who can present international certificates of vaccination (ICVs) may already avail of the green lanes beginning July 1, 2021, provided they comply with other requirements, he added.

On Tuesday, Roque announced that arriving passengers who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in “green” countries will only have to spend seven days in a quarantine facility upon their arrival in the Philippines.

The IATF-EID, in its Resolution 123-C, approved on June 28, agreed to shorten the quarantine period for arriving passengers from “green” countries, so long as they have already received the two Covid-19 shots.

Under IATF-EID Resolution 123-C, “green” countries are those classified by the Department of Health (DOH) as “’low-risk countries or jurisdictions based on disease incidence rate.”

Fully vaccinated travelers in “green” countries must carry their official documentation of full vaccination validated through the POLO or present their ICVs, whichever is applicable, the resolution states.

Initially, the IATF-EID only allowed fully vaccinated individuals to spend seven days in a quarantine facility upon their arrival in the country.

Those fully vaccinated in the Philippines are still directed to carry their vaccination card, which should be verified before their departure by a certification issued through the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s Certificate of Vaccination Record Portal or the City Health Officer of the local government unit that administered the full vaccination.

The Bureau of Quarantine (BoQ), according to the IATF-EID’s latest resolution, is mandated to ensure the strict symptom monitoring of fully vaccinated individuals amid their stay in an isolation facility.

Fully vaccinated individuals are likewise required to undergo self-monitoring for another seven days after their quarantine period.

They must also take a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test on their fifth day in the quarantine facility for purposes of gathering local data on breakthrough infections, according to the IATF-EID resolution.

Those who are not covered by the latest testing and quarantine protocols need to stay in a quarantine facility for 10 days and observe home quarantine for another four days.