DOH: No travel bans amid COVID-19 surge

MANILA, Philippines — Despite the emergence of new COVID-19 variants and surging cases in other countries, the Department of Health (DOH) sees no need to impose travel restrictions.

“There is no scientific basis for travel restrictions to any country because of an increase in COVID-19 cases,” the DOH said yesterday.

The DOH assured the public that it continues to track COVID-19 case counts and newly designated variants under monitoring, in parallel with international developments.

“The Department remains to be in close coordination with international health authorities and its Bureau of Quarantine is keeping watch over points of entry nationwide,” the agency noted.

All Philippine regions remain at low risk for COVID-19, the DOH said.

Based on reports in the DOH Data Collect application, 116 severe and critical COVID-19 cases were admitted to hospitals.

From May 7 to 13, 877 new cases were reported, or a daily average of 125 cases.

“While there is an observed increase recently, it is small and lower than previously observed increases,” the DOH said, noting that of the new cases reported, seven were severe or critical.

Five deaths were recorded between April 30 and May 13.

As of May 12, only 11 percent of dedicated COVID-19 ICU beds were occupied, while only 13 percent of dedicated COVID-19 non-ICU beds were occupied, the agency noted.

The World Health Organization reported three new COVID-19 variants under monitoring: JN.1.18, KP.2 and KP.3, all of which are descendants of JN.1.

Variants KP.2 and KP.3 are the proper names of what is informally known as “FLiRT” variants, as coined by some researchers.

To prevent the possible surge of COVID-19 cases in the country, the DOH recommended voluntary use of face masks along with standard precautions like hand washing, avoiding crowds and ensuring good airflow in spaces.

Meanwhile, Makati Medical Center yesterday reported a slight uptick in the number of COVID-19 admissions but the “overall situation is manageable.”

“After having zero occupancy for many days in the 8th floor COVID wing, we had to increase capacity to a dozen beds since a few days ago,” said MMC medical director Saturnino Javier.