US CDC lowers risk level for travel to the Philippines

FILE PHOTO A worker disinfects chairs at the airport in Manila. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)

MANILA, Philippines — The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC) has lowered the COVID-19 risk level for traveling to the Philippines from the previous “high” to “moderate.”

The CDC uses a four-level system in categorizing international destinations. Under Level 2, travelers should make sure they are fully vaccinated before travel, while unvaccinated travelers who are at high risk for severe illness from COVID-19 should avoid non-essential travel to the concerned destination.

The easing of CDC’s risk classification for traveling to the Philippines, as stated in its website, comes as the country continues to see a decreasing number of COVID-19 cases.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a Palace press briefing on Friday that COVID-19 cases in the country are slowly decreasing and just averaging 364 cases per day.

She also said that countries classified by the CDC under Level 2 for travel are those that record only 50 to 99 new COVID-19 cases per 10,000 in the past 28 days.

“This can be attributed to the public’s continuous adherence to the minimum health and safety protocols as well as high vaccination rates. We can make this better by getting our boosters,” she said.

According to Vergeire, the country has so far fully vaccinated 65.9 million or 73 percent of the target population as of March 31. Meanwhile, 12 million individuals have received booster shots.

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EDV