MANILA, Philippines — The government’s pandemic task force will discuss measures to deal with the impacts of the surge in COVID-19 infections in China, the Department of Health said Friday.
The task force recommends pandemic response policies to the president.
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"The Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases will discuss guidelines on how to deal with the COVID-19 resurgence in China, including our border control for Chinese travelers to the country, for recommendation and approval of the president," the DOH said in a message to reporters.
On Thursday, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said it is not yet time to impose tighter restrictions for inbound travelers from China, saying the current precautions are sufficient.
President Ferdinand Marcos also said that additional restrictions should only be imposed if these are “based on science and we feel that there’s a need.”
According to the health department, it has ordered the Bureau of Quarantine to heighten its surveillance efforts.
These include a thorough review of Maritime Declaration of Health and health part of the Aircraft General Declaration, reporting of intercepted symptomatic passengers during arrival screening, and submission of reports of COVID-19 positive passengers from points of entry.
Review, update travel restrictions
Senator Risa Hontiveros on Friday stressed that "business as usual is not an option" as she called on Malacañang to review and update color-coded travel restrictions.
"Before the president embarks on a planned state visit to China, his administration should first set additional layers of health security and safety protocols for tourists entering the Philippines this new year," Hontiveros said in Filipino.
She suggested that authorities should study implementing a single destination entry for tourists from countries with high COVID-19 cases for better coordination between the national and the local governments that will receive tourists.
Hontiveros also said the government must ensure that it has enough capacity to respond to the necessary testing, tracing, and treatment.
“We learned in 2020 that guarding our borders is a strong measure to ensure the protection of Filipinos against COVID-19 and its new variants,” the lawmaker said in Filipino.
“If we had closed our borders then, we would have avoided many infections and deaths, and we would have prepared our health system. We have been here before. Let us prove we are learning from the lessons of the past,” she added.
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. — Gaea Katreena Cabico