The Palace said Friday it is not yet ready to ease quarantine restrictions due to inconclusive findings on the nature of new Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Cabinet Secretary and acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles said the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases cannot make a decision yet because it is still waiting for “final conclusive data” about the Omicron variant from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Metro Manila and other provinces and cities in the country are under Alert Level 2, which will end on Dec. 15, but this will likely be extended to the end of the year, he said.
He said the government’s pandemic task force is being extra cautious about placing areas in the country under the least strict coronavirus (COVID-19) alert level due to the many uncertainties about the new Omicron variant.
Under Alert Level 2—the second lowest in the new alert level system—certain establishments and activities are allowed at 50 percent capacity indoors for fully vaccinated adults (and minors, even if unvaccinated) and 70 percent capacity outdoors.
Nograles said the fight against the pandemic is largely anchored on getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
"The direction of the Omicron variant is that it is less severe, and so the vaccines still remain highly effective against all variants. Vaccines work so we should get vaccinated," he added.
He said the government aims to fully vaccinate 54 million Filipinos by the end of the year, 77 million by March 2022, and 90 million by June 2022.
Meanwhile, the IATF placed Portugal on the "red" list for COVID-19, which means travelers from this country are barred from entering the Philippines due to the high risk of infection.
In a virtual press briefing on Friday, Nograles said passengers who have been to Portugal within 14 days immediately preceding arrival in the Philippines and who arrive on or after 12:01 a.m. of Dec. 12, but before 12:01 a.m. of Dec. 15, will be required to undergo facility-based quarantine for 14 days with a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test on the 7th day, with Day One being the date of arrival.
Notwithstanding a negative RT-PCR result, the completion of the 14-day quarantine is required.
Starting 12:01 a.m. of Dec. 15, entry in any port of the Philippines will not be allowed for passengers coming from or who have been to Portugal the last 14 days prior to arrival in the Philippines, regardless of vaccination status.
Only Filipinos returning to the country via government-initiated or non-government-initiated repatriation, and Bayanihan Flights may be allowed entry, subject to existing testing and quarantine protocols for red list countries/territories/jurisdictions, he said.
Other countries such as South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Mozambique, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, France, and Italy are also on the Philippines’ red list until Dec. 15.
Japan on Friday confirmed eight more cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections from the new strain in the country to 12.
All eight entered Japan from late November to early this month, the government said.
Singapore said two more COVID-19 cases have tested positive for the Omicron variant. One was a local case while the other was imported. Both cases were fully vaccinated and had received their booster shots.
The EU medicines watchdog said Thursday the Omicron variant of COVID-19 may cause milder disease, as the WHO warned against a re-run of vaccine hoarding by rich nations as the new strain spreads.
The tentative judgment from the European Medicines Agency comes after the WHO said this week there was some evidence that Omicron causes less severe disease than Delta, the currently dominant variant.
The EMA echoed the finding, but said more investigation was being done. With AFP
