Philippines revises list of ‘green countries’ or low-COVID risk territories

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MANILA, Philippines — The COVID-19 task force has reduced the number of “green countries” from where fully vaccinated travelers qualify for a shorter quarantine period upon arrival in the Philippines.

Thirteen jurisdictions were removed and seven areas were added to the list of green countries, as shown in a new list provided by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases and presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Friday.

The number of countries in the updated list is now at 51 from the previous 57.

In the updated list of green countries as defined by IATF, the following areas were removed: Barbados, the British Virgin Islands, Eswatini, French Polynesia, Greenland, Iceland, Isle of Man, Israel, Liechtenstein, Malta, Mauritius, South Korea, and Vietnam.

At the same time, the IATF added the following jurisdictions to the list of green countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Djibouti, Hungary, Kosovo, Moldova, and Slovakia.

Under IATF’s guidelines, inbound fully vaccinated travelers coming from green countries will undergo a seven-day facility-based quarantine, instead of 10 days.

Below is the updated list of green countries:

• Albania
• American Samoa
• Anguilla
• Antigua and Barbuda
• Australia
• Azerbaijan
• Benin
• Bermuda
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Brunei
• Bulgaria
• Burkina Faso
• Cayman Islands
• Chad
• China
• Comoros
• Cote d’ Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
• Dominica
• Djibouti
• Equatorial Guinea
• Falkland Islands
• Gabon
• Gambia
• Ghana
• Grenada
• Hong Kong
• Hungary
• Kosovo
• Laos
• Mali
• Marshall Islands
• Federated States of Micronesia
• Moldova
• Montserrat
• New Caledonia
• New Zealand
• Niger
• Nigeria
• North Macedonia
• Northern Mariana Islands
• Palau
• Poland
• Romania
• Saba (Special Municipality of the Kingdom of Netherlands)
• Saint Barthelemy
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon
• Singapore
• Sint Eustatius
• Slovakia
• Taiwan
• Togo

Travelers qualified for the shortened quarantine period should have stayed the past 14 days exclusively in the aforementioned countries prior to arrival in the Philippines.

Inbound passengers are considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 two or more weeks after receiving a single-dose jab or the second shot of a two-dose vaccine.

KGA