The Palace on Friday said staycation hotels are now allowed to operate at 100 percent capacity even as the government is considering lifting more restrictions in specific bubbles despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
In a press statement, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) approved the recommendation of its technical working group to allow staycation hotels to operate up to 100 percent of their venue capacity.
“On tourism-related matters, Department of Tourism (DOT)-accredited accommodation establishments with certificates of authority to operate for staycation may accommodate guests for staycations up to 100 percent venue capacity,” Roque, who also serves as IATF-EID spokesperson, said.
Roque said staycation hotels may also forgo the Covid-19 testing of guests as a prerequisite for accommodation, so long as their guests are aged 18 to 65.
Roque said hotels in areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) without a certificate of authority to operate for staycation may accommodate guests for leisure purposes for up to 30 percent of their venue capacity, subject to DOT guidelines and other conditions.
Meanwhile, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said health experts and the IATF are looking at the possibility of lifting restrictions in specific bubbles.
She said the study would look beyond the number of vaccinated people and would consider the current state of COVID-19 infections in the country.
However, she said it is too early to say when the easing of restrictions would happen.
“We need to look at the state of cases here in NCR or whether we have room based on our health care utilization rate. We also need to look at the public’s compliance with minimum health protocols,” Vergeire said.
While 1 million people have received full doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, this number is still relatively small compared to the total population of the country—about 109 million, based on 2019 data.
“They say we can achieve this through herd immunity but we know it would take a long time before we achieve this,” Vergeire said.
She said the lifting of restrictions currently being rolled out across the United States is not yet possible in the Philippines, because the rate of vaccination is not the same.
She noted that some places in the country still experience increases in COVID-19 infections.
The DOH said Friday it has seen a drop in the number of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila and its adjacent provinces in the last few weeks.
However, at least seven regions have reported an increase in coronavirus infections, which could prompt the agency to recommend tighter quarantine restrictions, Vergeire told a news briefing.
Vergeire said Cagayan Valley, Cordillera Administrative Region, Western Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao Region and Soccsksargen are those affected by the COVID-19 spike.
To arrest the virus spread, the DOH is coordinating with the IATF to possibly ramp up restrictions and expand the number of hospital beds in these areas.
The Philippines logged 8,748 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total number of infections to 1,209,154, as four laboratories were not able to submit their data on time, the DOH said.
Some 187 new fatalities were recorded, bringing the death toll from COVID-19 to 20,566.
The DOH reported 3,017 new recoveries, bringing the total recoveries to 1,134,81
Vergeire said the DOH has yet to receive official notice from the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding community transmission of new coronavirus variants in the Philippines.
Vergeire said such transmissions have already been assumed.
The WHO said there is “some degree of community transmission” of the variants first detected in the United Kingdom and South Africa in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces.
Vergeire said this pronouncement must not be a cause for fear.
She also said health protocols that have been in place since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic will still be effective even against new coronavirus variants.
“Whatever variants that we have right now, whether we have community transmission or not, we still do the same response, we protect ourselves by complying with health protocols and having ourselves vaccinated,” she said.
The Philippines, as of May 15, has recorded more than 1,000 COVID-19 cases with new variants. However, only a handful remain active.