PHL to keep borders open despite uptick in Covid-19 cases, entry of new variants

THE Philippines will likely remain open to foreign leisure travelers despite the rising local cases of Covid-19 and concerns raised by some tourism stakeholders.

There is also no recommendation to bring back the test-beforetravel requirement for arrivals from abroad. Department of the Interior and Local Government Undersecretary for Operations Epimaco V. Densing III told the Businessmirror, “There are metrics that are being followed. DOH [Department of Health] has not officially invoked those metrics except saying cases are increasing in numbers.”

Another ranking government source also confirmed, “As of now, no one has raised the idea of a closure. There might be one last meeting of the IATF [Inter-agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases] before end of june, but nothing to that effect[ is] being proposed by health experts. I assume many of the existing [Covid] variants have already entered the country ,” the source added.

The DOH has noted the presence of Omicron subvariants—ba.2, BA12.1, BA.4, and Ba.5—among local Covid cases. Its latest case bulletin showed 1,682 new cases from June 6 to 12, with an daily average case of 240. These new cases were 30.4 percent higher than the new cases tallied from May 30 to June 5.

“The current recommendation I can see so far is to retain Alert Level 1 for most areas until June 30,” said the government source who requested anonymity.

Local stakeholders concerned

A FEW tourism stakeholders have already expressed alarm over the rising Covid cases. “I’m worried about the increase in theses cases again,” said one travel agent, who declined to be identified in deference to his clients, adding that the bulk of their company’s foreign guests are arriving by the end of June.

The travel agent assumed many of the infections were from tourists arriving from the US. American nationals and balikbayans from the US top the list of inbound tourists since the Philippines eased travel restrictions. “Maybe it was premature to lift the test-before-travel requirement [for inbound tourists],” the source added.

Since May 30, government longer required fully vaccinated and boostered inbound passengers to take a Covid test at their port of origin prior to their arrival in the Philippines. The travel agent said government should reinstate the requirement, “just as a precaution and to be proactive about it.”

400 average daily cases by end-june?

IN an interview over Teleradyo on Monday, a mathematician and OCTA Research Fellow Dr. Guido David said in Filipino, “In May, the pace in the rise of cases was just 10 percent, so it wasn’t much of a concern. But now, the rise in cases is 50 percent compared to the previous week. In the first week of May, the average daily case rate was about 65-86, which were small. But now, from 86, it already jumped to 131. If this pattern continues, it may reach 200 cases by next week. We project by the end of June, it may reach 400 cases already in Metro Manila, which means it will be about 800 to 1,000 cases in the entire Philippines.”

He added, on Twitter, “I think there is local transmission already…. Yes, of course, travelers brought the variants in the country. Our ports are open.”

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III himself championed the reopening of the Philippines to the foreign leisure travel market, according to former Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat. The reopening was made in time for Manila to host the World Travel and Tourism Council’s Global Summit last April.