No more quarantine for fully ‘vaxed’

arriving international passengers

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Oct 19 (PIA) – There will be no more testing and quarantine for fully vaccinated international arriving passengers from “green lane countries,” says the Inter Agency Task Force for the management of Emerging Infectious Diseases Resolution No. 143, series of 2021.

The Resolution, which was signed October 13, 2021 and was to take effect the following day, however states that fully vaccinated foreign nationals should still present a negative for coronavirus disease (COVID) test result via Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) taken seventy-two hours before leaving the country of origin.

And while there is no more need for a facility-based quarantine upon their arrival, they are enjoined to self-monitor for COVID symptoms until the fourteenth day of arrival.

As to returning Filipinos who are fully vaccinated, they may submit a negative RT-PCR test taken 72 hours before departure from the country of origin and arrive with no facility-based quarantine, but still self-monitor for COVID symptoms until the 14th day from day of arrival; or go to a facility-based quarantine until the release of a negative RT-PCR test taken in the quarantine facility upon arrival.

For unvaccinated, partially vaccinated, or individuals whose vaccination status cannot be independently validated, and those vaccinated but failed to comply with the above test-before-travel requirements, they go to a facility-based quarantine for seven days.

On the fifth day of quarantine, he will undergo an RT-PCR test until he gets a negative result, says he IATF. If he is negative, he can break quarantine and self-monitor for the next 14 days, the count starts on the date of his arrival.

For this, unvaccinated or partially vaccinated foreign nationals, are then required to secure hotel reservations for at least 6 days.

On the other hand, unvaccinated or partially vaccinated minor children traveling with their fully vaccinated parents or guardians are to observe the quarantine protocols corresponding to their vaccination status, a parent or guardian must accompany the child in the quarantine facility for the full term of the latter’s facility-based quarantine period.

To validate the vaccination status, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and their family members, non-OFWs and foreigners vaccinated abroad or in the Philippines need to show their VaxCertPH digital vaccination certificate, or Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) World Health Organization-issued International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICV), or the national digital certificate of the foreign government where they were vaccinated.

For foreigner nationals vaccinated abroad, they need to show WHO-issued ICV, or the national digital certificate of the foreign government which has accepted VaxCertPH under a reciprocal arrangement.

Passengers, Filipinos or foreigners merely transiting through a non-Green List country or territory is not treated as from a Green Lane if they stayed in the airport the whole time and was not cleared for entry into such country by its immigration authorities.

For those unvaccinated passengers from Green Lanes, the BOQ ensures strict symptom monitoring while in the facility quarantine and when found to be positive, prescribed isolation protocols are followed. Upon completion of quarantine, BOQ issues a Quarantine Certificate indicating that individual’s vaccination status.

The resolution also said that testing and quarantine protocols for foreign nationals allowed entry in the Philippines may be subject to special protocols approved by the IATF or the Office of the President without prejudice to immigration laws, rules, and regulations such that the Commissioner of Immigration exercises exclusive prerogative to decide on waiver or recall of exclusion orders for all foreign nationals authorized entry under relevant IATF resolutions, subject to regular reporting to the IATF Secretariat at the end of each calendar month. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)