MANILA, Philippines — Travelers from the United Kingdom who will arrive before the temporary travel ban takes effect in the Philippines will have to undergo quarantine in New Clark City, Tarlac even if they test negative for COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said this in the Kapihan sa Manila Bay online forum after Malacañang announced earlier in the day that flights from the UK to the Philippines are suspended starting December 24 to 31 amid reports of a new coronavirus strain believed to be more infectious.
“We will only allow the entry of passengers who are already in transit to the country, provided that they arrive before 12:01 a.m. of 24 December 2020, and that they shall be required to undergo mandatory completion of the 14-day quarantine at the Athlete’s Village in New Clark City regardless of RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) test results,” Duque said.
Duque said the UK variant is not yet detected in the Philippines.
But “given this anticipated surge this holiday season, we cannot afford another factor or variable that may affect the transmission rate of SARS-CoV-2,” he added.
“We have witnessed what a spike in cases and this is what it means to us—the extensive lockdowns and how it has affected our families, our health care workers, the small businesses and large enterprises alike. We do not want these to happen again,” Duque also said.
The World Health Organization earlier said there is still no evidence that the new coronavirus variant detected in the UK made COVID-19 more severe and will render the vaccines being rolled out ineffective.