Government urged to strengthen safety protocols for travel to provinces

MANILA, Philippines — Concerned government agencies should strengthen health and safety protocols for travels to provinces to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and protect areas that have low to zero cases of the disease, Sen. Bong Go said yesterday.

“Even if community quarantine measures have been eased in some areas, we should still tighten protocols on travel to the provinces to prevent the spread of the disease,” Go said in a statement.

“There are regions, like those in Mindanao, that have low cases of COVID-19. While it’s difficult to contain infections here in Metro Manila, let’s make sure that the disease won’t spread to the provinces,” he added.

The same strict measures should be applied to locally stranded individuals (LSIs), according to the senator.

He backed the recommendation of various officials and stakeholders that all flights, buses, vessels and fast craft ships traveling from one province to another strictly comply with health and safety protocols and be required to secure clearance from authorities prior to traveling.

Go reminded authorities that COVID-19 testing must be administered to passengers prior to traveling and the timespan between testing and actual departure must be limited to a shorter period, as determined by health experts, to ensure reliability of test results and avoid possible exposure of passengers to the virus after testing negative.

The senator also urged concerned agencies to lay down convenient and efficient air, sea or land travel options with a clear schedule provided to the public in order to avoid confusion and overcrowding in terminals.

Go echoed Interior Secretary Eduardo Año’s comments that a systematic single dispatch system, which was adopted by the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa (BP2) program during its pilot rollout last May 20, must also be implemented when transporting individuals back to their provinces.