The Manila Times

Africa arrivals subjected to back-tracing, re-testing

RED MENDOZA WITH REPORT FROM CATHERINE S. VALENTE

THE Philippines continues to remain free from the Omicron variant of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) but intensive back-tracing and re-testing are being done on those who arrived from three African countries, according to the Department of Health.

According to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, of the 253 people who arrived from South Africa from November 15 to 29, only one tested positive, 83 tested negative, 134 results remain pending and 35 did not require a swab test upon arrival.

Of the 253 passengers, 183 are still being contacted by the Bureau of Quarantine and the Department of the Interior and Local Government, while 71 passengers have been contacted and verified.

Of the 71 cases that were contacted, three patients, who are foreigners coming from South Africa now under facility quarantine in Negros Occidental, have tested negative in their re-test, one result remains pending and 67 others are still due for a re-test.

Vergeire said the three foreigners, who are fully vaccinated and are asymptomatic, have undergone re-swabbing and their results are also pending.

There were other arrivals from Burkina Faso and Egypt, countries with reported detections of the Omicron variant, and those samples are now being processed for sequencing at the Philippine Genome Center.

“Each of these countries has a traveler that tested positive for Covid-19... lahat ng nag-positive na ‘yan (all of those who tested positive), as long as the CT (cycle threshold) values are appropriate, ipapadala po ‘yan sa (we will send them to the) Philippine Genome Center for genome sequencing,” Vergeire said during a briefing on Friday.

She added that the country has strengthened its arrival protocols for all countries not under the “red” list by extending the facility-based quarantine to five days for vaccinated individuals and seven days for unvaccinated individuals and requiring them to complete their mandatory 14-day home quarantine.

When asked if the country is prepared for the possibility of an increase in cases caused by the Omicron variant, Vergeire said she believes that the Philippines was able to learn its lessons through the implementation of the fourdoor strategy of border restrictions, quarantine, intensified response and community quarantine.

“We all know that this four-door strategy worked for us during the time [the] Delta [variant] entered the country, so ‘pag tinignan natin ‘yung analysis, kung kailan tumaas ang kaso, we were able to delay the entry of Delta for a month bago tayo nagtaas ng kaso (so if we see the analysis, if there is an increase in cases, we were able to delay the entry of Delta for a month before cases increased). So, it is an important lesson for all of us,” she added.

Dr. Takeshi Kasai, World Health Organization Western Pacific regional director, urged the public to remain vigilant amid the presence of the Omicron variant.

“We can adapt the way we manage this virus to better cope with the future surges and reduce the health, social and economic impacts,” Kasai said during a briefing also on Friday.

So far, 416 cases of the Omicron variant have been detected in 35 countries worldwide.

The Philippines reported 544 cases of Covid-19 also on Friday, for a total of 14,977 active cases, or 0.5 percent of nearly 2.834 million infections.

Total recoveries are at 2.77 million, while the death toll is at 48,987, with 235 additional fatalities.

Testing, quarantine requirements

In Malacañang, President Rodrigo Duterte’s acting spokesman Karlo Alexei Nograles also on Friday said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) on Thursday approved new testing and quarantine requirements for travelers coming from countries, territories and jurisdictions on the “green” and “yellow” lists.

The green list is composed of countries, territories and jurisdictions with low risk of Covid-19 infection while the yellow list is composed of destinations with moderate risk of Covid-19 infection.

“For fully vaccinated individuals, they shall be required to have a negative RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) test conducted within 72 hours prior to departure from the country of origin,” Nograles said in a statement.

“Upon arrival in the Philippines, they shall undergo facilitybased quarantine with an RT-PCR test taken on the 5th day, with the date of arrival being the first day,” he added.

Regardless of a negative result, they shall be required to undergo home quarantine up to the 14th day from the date of arrival, according to Nograles.

“Individuals who are unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or whose vaccination status cannot be independently validated shall be required a negative RT-PCR test conducted within 72 hours prior to departure from the country of origin,” he said.

Upon arrival in the Philippines, according to Nograles, these individuals shall undergo facility-based quarantine with an RT-PCR test done on the 7th day, with the date of arrival being the first day.

“Regardless of a negative result, they shall be required to undergo home quarantine up to the 14th day from the date of arrival,” he said.

“The Department of Transportation has been directed to ensure that airlines board only passengers who comply with the negative RT-PCR test-before-travel requirement,” the Palace spokesman added.

On the other hand, Nograles, also the IATF spokesman, said testing and quarantine protocols of minors shall follow the testing and quarantine protocol of the parent/guardian traveling with them, regardless of the minor’s vaccination status and country of origin.

He added that international passengers who have already arrived and are currently undergoing quarantine shall continue with the testing and quarantine protocols in place at the time of their arrival.

Nograles said Filipinos from “red” (high-risk) list countries, territories and jurisdictions allowed entry via government-initiated or nongovernment repatriations, and Bayanihan Flights shall only be allowed to deplane via the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and/ or Clark International Airport.

“The Department of Transportation, through their attached agencies, is directed to ensure the compliance of airlines with this directive,” he pointed out.

“Upon arrival, the individual shall comply with the testing and quarantine protocols as prescribed under IATF Resolution149-A, Series of 2021,” the Malacañang official said.

Meanwhile, Nograles announced that the IATF has downgraded the alert level classification in Apayao province in Northern Luzon to Alert Level 2, effective December 3 until December 15.

The downgrading came after the IATF amended the metrics for determining alert level classifications of provinces, highly urbanized cities and independent component cities.

“Amendments include removing the One-Week Growth Rate as a metric for escalation from alert level 1 to alert level 2; the escalation of areas under Alert Level 1 to Alert Level 2 if either case classification or total Covid-19 bed utilization increases to moderate risk or higher; and the escalation of areas under Alert Level 2 to Alert Level 3 if both case classification and total Covid-19 bed utilization are at moderate risk, or if case classification is at high to critical risk,” Nograles said.

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2021-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

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The Manila Times