PH trims down list of ‘green’ countries to 36

list of “green” or low coronavirus risk countries that allows their vaccinated travelers to face shorter quarantine upon arrival in the Philippines has been further trimmed down as a precaution against the coronavirus spread.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has identified 36 countries and territories with low risk of coronavirus infection, revising the previous list of 51.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque announced that the task force has approved and updated the list of considered “Green” countries/jurisdictions/territories following a meeting Thursday, August 12. This is the second revision made by the government in the past month amid efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the country.

The countries removed from the green list are Azerbaijan, Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Bulgaria, Gambia, Ghana, Kosovo, Laos, Moldova, North Macedonia, Saba (Special Municipality of the Kingdom of Netherlands), Saint Barthelemy, Singapore, Sint Eustatius, and Togo. The only country added to the list is Sudan.

The countries included in the revised “green” list are the following: Albania, American Samoa, Anguilla, Australia, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Chad, China, Comoros, Cote d’ Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Falkland Islands, Gabon, Grenada, Hong Kong, Hungary, Mali, Federated States of Micronesia

Montserrat (British Overseas Territory), New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Poland, Romania, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Slovakia, Sudan, and Taiwan.

The task force earlier issued health guidelines for vaccinated travelers who stayed in these “green” countries, including a seven-day quarantine at a facility instead of the usual 10 days, upon arrival in the Philippines.

These “green” countries are those classified by the Department of Health as “low risk” countries/ jurisdictions based on disease incidence rate.

Under government rules, these incoming travelers must take a swab coronavirus test on the fifth day of facility-based quarantine. If a passenger tests negative, the individual must complete the sevenday facility-based quarantine. If found positive, the traveler must follow the prescribed isolation protocols. (Genalyn Kabiling)