Philippines ban on travelers from UK extended

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte has extended the travel ban on flights coming from the United Kingdom for another two weeks from Dec. 31, in an effort to keep out the new strain of coronavirus.

The Philippines initially suspended flights from the UK, where the first case of the new variant was found, from Dec. 24 to Dec. 31.

Duterte approved last night the recommendation of experts for the strict mandatory quarantine of travelers from countries that report the new variant.

The President approved recommendations, including one put forward by presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr., to extend by another two weeks the travel ban on flights coming from the UK.

The body also agreed that “only PCR (polymerase chain reaction) positive samples will be sent to the Philippine Genome Center or Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) or the UP-National Institutes of Health for genomic sequencing.”

Roque said Duterte also approved the recommendation of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra to shorten the period for crafting of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Executive Order 122, which aims to strengthen border control through the adoption and implementation of an advanced passenger information system.

The system will allow the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to obtain advance information from various airlines and carriers about the origin of their individual passengers, their originating flight, connecting flight, transit flight and other relevant information.

The order, issued last Dec. 15, has not been implemented because the IRR has to be formulated by the BI and other relevant agencies within 16 days from its effectivity.

The BI yesterday also said they would not allow passengers from the UK to enter the country until Jan. 14 next year.

“Consequently, all passengers who have been to the UK in the last 14 days prior to arrival in the country are still restricted entry until January 14, 2021,” said BI Commissioner Jaime Morente.

Duterte will meet again with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) today for updates on new quarantine protocols and other relevant matters starting Jan. 1.

Aside from the UK, documented cases of the new COVID-19 variant were reported in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. The Department of Health (DOH) is also monitoring countries reporting new local variants such as Africa.

“So, travellers coming from countries or areas, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia with confirmed new variant shall undergo mandatory completion of the 14-day quarantine regardless of the RT-PCR test results,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said.

“Countries with local community transmission of the new variant, we’ll consider travel restrictions only when the transmission of the new variant is at the community level,” Duque said, noting further that the World Health Organization has notified the Philippines about countries which reported cases of the new variant.

Yesterday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases nationwide reached 469,886 with the addition of 883 cases.

DOH said 93.4 percent or 438,678 of the total cases have already recuperated from the illness. The figure included 7,635 additional recoveries.

Active cases stand at 22,099 which account for 4.7 percent of total cases. The bulk or 90.1 percent of the active cases are mild and asymptomatic.

Rizal posted the highest number of new cases with 66, followed by Quezon City with 50, and Benguet with 47. Davao City ranked fourth in the list of areas with high new cases with 42, followed by Manila with 35.

An additional 42 deaths brought to 9,109 the total number of COVID-related fatalities. DOH said mortalities account for 1.94 percent of total cases.

In a press briefing yesterday, Duque said the government is allocating funds for the strengthening of genome surveillance in the country.

According to RITM director Celia Carlos, genome surveillance is necessary to immediately identify the mutation of a virus.

“We have to be watchful of emerging viruses because we can never tell what type of mutations among the isolates can cause more illness or not at all. We have to assess the mutation so we can intervene properly,” Carlos explained.

Carlos said the new UK variant got experts worried because the mutation occurred faster and at a bigger magnitude.

Microbiology and Infectious disease expert Dr. Marissa Alejandria said surveillance is necessary to determine if the new COVID strain detected in the UK can still infect those already vaccinated.

“We do not know yet (the effect of the strain on vaccines) so we have to monitor actively,” Alejandria said.

Why wait?

Sen. Francis Pangilinan urged the government to widen the travel ban to countries where the new COVID-19 strain has been detected, and not wait for a local transmission of the more infectious virus.

“Why do we need to wait for this new strain to spread before we act?” Pangilinan said in response to Duque’s statement on the matter.

Last January, when the Philippines was still relatively free from COVID-19, Pangilinan was among those who called for a travel ban of visitors from Wuhan, China.

He also urged the DOH and the IATF to constantly monitor developments and inform the public about the new strain without causing fear or panic.

“An informed citizenry is an empowered citizenry. The people should be given clear, accurate, and timely messages about the virus so they will know how to better protect themselves,” he said.

Pangilinan said officials should have learned their lesson from COVID-19, which had already spread in some parts of the country before the government decided to impose a travel ban.

“It’s time authorities take swift action because all it takes for the new variant to spread is one person getting on a plane and landing at NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport),” he said.

Dr. Anthony Leachon, convenor of the Kilusang Kontra COVID-19, said border control measures can be effective against containing the spread of the new strain.

“I won’t suggest tighter lockdowns due to economic depression suffered by our country and since adherence to health protocols and buildup of health capacities appear to be effective,” Leachon said.

“But we need ASAP new efficacious and safe vaccines while enhancing our capacitance in the interim,” he said.

The government needs to be strategic and agile as the country has been on lockdown for almost 10 months and efficacious vaccines are not yet available unlike in other countries, he said.

Restrictions on UK OFWs

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is pushing for the restriction on entry of vacationing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from the UK to prevent the possible spread of the new COVID-19 variant into the country.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello recommended to President Duterte the expansion of the existing travel restriction to vacationing OFWs during the Cabinet meeting Saturday night.

“The IATF resolution is to prevent the entry of foreigners coming from UK and allows OFWs. I think it is also good to consider to include in the restriction even our OFWs whose only purpose is to take a vacation,” Bello told the President.

Citing a report coming from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO), Bello said there are OFWs possibly infected with the new COVID-19 variant which is now spreading in the UK.

The President said he is not keen on the idea of disallowing Filipinos working in the UK and other countries from coming home, and would just rather require them to undergo swab testing and quarantine.

All travellers coming from the UK to the Philippines are required to undergo 14-day quarantine. – Mayen Jaymalin, Evelyn Macairan, PaoloRomero, Alexis Romero