The Philippines is not keen on imposing restrictions on incoming travelers from China despite the new surge of Covid-19 infections in the country, the Department of Health said Thursday.
“The DoH does not think that it is required or it is needed already that we close our borders or have these regulations or restrictions specific to China only because of happening in their country,” Health Officer-In-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a media briefing.
Citing similar experiences of other countries with fresh infections, Vergeire stressed imposing border restrictions is not recommended “at this time”.
“Based on the perspective of the DoH and our experts, it is not yet the time or we do not see enough need to close our borders to this specific country,” she said.
“We’ve seen other countries experience a surge in cases, they even reached thousands or hundreds of thousands but we never close our borders nor we did not implement stricter restrictions (to them),” she added.
China, the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019, is currently experiencing a new surge of infections due to the spread of the more transmissible Omicron BF.7 subvariant.
Vergeire stressed that the closing country’s borders are also not in line with the current administration’s plan.
“We will not do that because we want to move forward,” she added.
However, the Health chief assured the public that the Health Department will continue its surveillance, monitoring, and implementation of the e-arrival card.
Earlier, the United States announced its plan to impose mandatory Covid-19 tests on travelers from China, joining India, Italy, Japan and Taiwan
The World Health Organization already said it is “very concerned” regarding the Covid-19 situation in China, following reports of a surge in infections in the said country.
“WHO is very concerned over the evolving situation in China with increasing reports of severe disease,” WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
At the moment, the Philippines reported a total of four Omicron BF.7 subvariant cases.
PAL advisory
Meanwhile, Philippine Airlines confirmed that its flights from Manila to and from Xiamen will continue to operate starting 13 January 2023.
This is in spite of DoTr Secretary Jaime Bautista’s call to impose tougher travel restrictions on China in the face of the continuous increase in Covid-19 cases in the Mainland.
Bautista wants to subject all arriving passengers from China to a mandatory Covid-19 test.
PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna also assured that they continue to comply with the health protocols witofe Chinese government.
Villaluna added that for now their flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Quanzhou (Jinjiang) in China remain suspended.