Hong Kong now on ‘green’ list; no more quarantine for vaccinated travelers
MANILA, Philippines — Hong Kong is now classified as a “green” country” which qualifies a fully vaccinated traveler to skip quarantine measures upon their arrival in the Philippines and must only present a negative RT-PCR or swab test.
Hong Kong is one of two countries that the government’s pandemic task force added to the list of “green” countries, the other one being Gibraltar, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Friday.
Meanwhile, Djibouti and Hungary were removed from the list.
Under the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases’ guidelines, fully vaccinated travelers from “green countries” must only present a negative RT-PCR test taken 72 hours prior to their departure from the country of origin.
“Green” countries are those considered low-risk based on their COVID-19 diseases incidence rate.
In a statement, Roque, who also serves as IATF spokesperson, said the following were the updated list of “green” countries:
-Algeria
-American Samoa
-Bhutan
-Burkina Faso
-Cameroon
-Cayman Islands
-Chad
-China (Mainland)
-Comoros
-Republic of the Congo
-Cook Islands
-Eritrea
-Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
-Gibraltar +
-Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China) +
-Kiribati
-Madagascar
-Mali
-Marshall Islands
-Federated States of Micronesia
-Montserrat
-Nauru
-New Zealand
-Nicaragua
-Niger
-Niue
-North Korea
-Northern Mariana Islands
-Palau
-Poland
-Saba (Special Municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
-Saint Helena
-Saint Pierre and Miquelon
-Samoa
-Sierra Leone
-Sint Eustatius
-Solomon Islands
-Sudan
-Syria
-Taiwan
-Tajikistan
-Tanzania
-Tokelau
-Tonga
-Turkmenistan
-Tuvalu
-Uzbekistan
-Vanuatu
-Yemen
Fully vaccinated foreign nationals must present a negative RT-PCR test taken within 72 hours prior to their departure from the country of origin.
They are no longer required to undergo facility-based quarantine but are encouraged to self-monitor for any symptoms until the 14th day from their arrival.
Fully vaccinated overseas Filipino workers or returning Filipinos can choose to undergo facility-based quarantine until the release of a negative RT-PCR test taken upon their arrival, or present a negative swab test taken within 72 hours prior to their departure and no longer undergo facility-based quarantine and only self-monitor for symptoms.
Meanwhile, those unvaccinated, partially vaccinated, or individuals whose vaccination status cannot be independently verified, and those vaccinated but failed to comply with the test-before-travel requirements, must undergo a facility-based quarantine until the release of a negative RT-PCR test taken on the 5th day of their arrival.
Foreign nationals are required to secure hotel reservations for at least six days.
In the case of unvaccinated or partially vaccinated minor children traveling with their fully vaccinated parent/s or guardians, they are required to observe the quarantine protocols corresponding to their vaccination status.
A parent/guardian shall accompany the child in the quarantine facility for the full term of the latter’s facility-based quarantine period.
Roque said Romania is classified as a “red” country and the rest of the countries not mentioned are considered “yellow” list.
