MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health on Thursday said it is not yet time to impose tighter restrictions for travelers from China, which is seeing an explosion of COVID-19 cases following the lifting of strict rules there.
In a briefing, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the department is confident that existing health protocols and strengthened surveillance systems are adequate.
"The DOH doesn’t think that it’s required or it’s needed already that we close our borders or have regulations or restrictions specific only to China because of what’s happening in their country," Vergeire said in a briefing.
"We are in a much better position now compared to one or two years ago because most of our citizens are fully vaccinated already, and have learned the good behavior of practicing minimum public health standards," she added.
Vergeire issued the statement a day after Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista said he was in favor of imposing COVID-19 measures—such as testing—on visitors from China.
A growing number of countries including the United States and Italy have announced curbs for Chinese visitors.
The health official said that such a policy should be discussed by the government’s inter-agency task force on COVID-19 response first.
"Right now, it is just for us to monitor and observe the situation. But [we will continue to impose] our strengthened surveillance, and of course that regulation that we require a negative antigen test coming from individuals from other countries who are not vaccinated," Vergeire said.
When the virus that causes COVID-19 started to spread in China and the world, the Philippine government was not keen on banning travel to and from the East Asian nation.
Authorities only announced a travel ban on Chinese nationals from Hubei—where the virus originated—and other places in China with cases on January 31, 2020. The government then expanded the travel ban to mainland China and its special administrative regions Hong Kong and Macau on February 2.
The Philippines recently detected cases of the BF.7 subvariant, which is believed to be driving China’s current COVID-19 surge.
China is dealing with a rapid increase in COVID-19 transmission following Beijing’s decision to lift strict measures that had largely kept the virus at bay. On Monday, China announced it would end the mandatory quarantine on arrival protocol.