Philippines not expanding ‘red list’

MANILA: The Philippines will not ban travellers from any more countries because of the Covid-19 Omicron variant, apart from the 14 nations on its “red list” until Dec 15.

Health undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said this was agreed upon by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases, the Inquirer.net portal reported.

In a broadcast by Teleradyo on Tuesday, Vergeire stressed that the Philippines could not totally close its borders from the rest of the world.

She said this when asked if the Health Department would recommend further expanding the travel ban amid the looming threat of the Omicron variant that has been detected in more countries recently.

Vergeire said government agencies needed to prepare and strengthen border control, as well as in the communities.

“We cannot close the Philippines from the rest of the world. That is the principle that the IATF holds, that is why our experts recommended stricter protocols so that at least we can ensure that we can still guard our borders because we know that Omicron will spread.

“It is not a matter of not having it in our country, but when will it enter the country. The IATF agreed to not add more because more counties are detecting the Omicron variant. What we’ll do is to intensify our border controls,” she explained.

On Monday, Vergeire had said that while the response had always been to prepare for the worse and “buy time”, the entry of the variant might be inevitable.

Currently, inbound flights from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, and Italy are suspended.

We cannot close the Philippines from the rest of the world.

MARIA ROSARIO VERGEIRE

Health undersecretary