Philippines to ease travel restrictions for fully vaccinated visitors
Authorities in The Philippines have said that from today people who have been fully vaccinated will no longer be required to quarantine on arrival.
The Philippines.- The government in The Philippines continues to ease Covid-19 restrictions, announcing that foreign visitors from countries considered low risk will no longer be required to quarantine on arrival. Visitors will only need to show a negative Covid-19 test issued 72 hours before departure and to self-monitor their health for 14 days.
The news comes after President Duterte’s spokesperson Harry Roque said the capital city of Manila could ease its current Covid-19 countermeasures from October 15.
Although he noted the final decision will be taken by the Inter-Agency Task Force, Roque stated: “For the first time in many many months, Metro Manila is under moderate risk and that is also a factor to consider in lowering quarantine classification.”
If restrictions are lowered to Level 3, casinos, lottery and betting shops, and other gaming venues would be allowed to reopen at 30 per cent of their venue capacity. Under Level 2, capacity will extend to 50 per cent. Only when the city reaches Level 1 will casinos be able to reopen at full capacity.
Philippines hopes to reach 70% vaccination rate by February 2022
Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III has said he expects the Philippines to achieve a 70 per cent vaccination rate for Covid-19 by February 2022.
He said the country is progressing at an average daily rate of nearly 400,000 vaccinations per day, however, the process has been slow due to delays in the arrival of vaccines. To date only 12.2 per cent of the Philippines’ population has been fully vaccinated.
Several Manila’s IRs have rolled out vaccination programmes in order to get their staff vaccinated. The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) has announced a workforce immunisation rate of 94 per cent.
