Manila, December 21 On December 21 local time, Philippine President Spokesperson Harry Locke refuted rumors that the Philippine capital Metro Manila will implement a stricter quarantine policy from December 23 to January 3 next year.
According to the quarantine policy announced by President Duterte on November 30, the Metro Manila region, Badayan and Lanao South Provinces, as well as the cities of Iloilo, Duluvan, Iligan and Davao, continue to implement the “ordinary community quarantine” epidemic prevention policy (GCQ) until December 31.
The most relaxed and improved general community segregation (MGCQ) will continue in all other parts of the country. Locke expects President Duterte to announce the next round of quarantine classification in early January 2021.
Locke, who is also a spokesman for the Philippine Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), said that the United Kingdom has discovered a new variant of the novel coronavirus, which is 70% more infectious than previously known.
More and more countries have begun to impose a travel ban on the United Kingdom. IATF-E ID will also discuss how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 variants from the UK into the Philippines.
Since the Philippines imposed a travel ban on all tourists from countries where the novel coronavirus has spread locally on March 15, only Filipino citizens and their foreign spouses, as well as diplomats from other countries, have been allowed to enter the country.
At present, according to the Philippine epidemic prevention regulations, passengers must be tested for COVID-19 upon arrival in the country. While waiting for the results of the inspection, passengers must stay in a government-designated quarantine agency or quarantine hotel.
During this period, the accommodation costs of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will be borne by the government, and the accommodation costs of other non-overseas Filipino workers will be paid for by themselves.
Passengers who test positive will be transferred to designated hospitals for treatment, while passengers who test negative will be allowed to leave and stay in isolation at home or designated monitoring facilities for 14 days.
According to the data of the Ministry of Health of the Philippines, on December 21, 1,721 new confirmed cases were reported in the country, with a total of 461,505 confirmed cases, 8,957 deaths and 429,207 recovered.
