COVID-19 test of tourism frontliners covered by PhilHealth —exec

PhilHealth spokesperson Rey Baleña on Friday assured tourism frontliners that their COVID-19 tests would be covered by the state health insurer.

During a Laging Handa briefing, Baleña made a rundown of groups that are entitled to the PhilHealth-covered COVID-19 test.

"Yung mga frontliners sa mga tourist zones, sila po ay at-risk din kaya sila ay entitled din dito sa ating testing," he said.

The assurance came as Baguio City is set to open its doors for tourists from Region 1 on September 22, a few weeks after Tagaytay started to allow visitors to come in.

Based on DOH's updated memorandum 2020-0258, tourism frontliners may be tested once a month.

Tourists, however, shall pay for the cost of their own COVID-19 tests.

"'Yung mga turista, 'yung mga traveller, mapa-domestic man o foreign origin, sila ay kakailanganin mag-test pero hindi po sila kasama sa PhilHealth coverage, at their own expense po ang kanilang pagpapatest," he said.

The DOH guidelines state that "all travelers, whether of domestic or foreign origin, may be tested at least once, at their own expense, prior to entry into any designated tourist zone."

The PhilHealth spokesperson reiterated that the COVID-19 test of those who were contact-traced are also covered by the state insurer.

"Kung kayo po, mga kababayan natin, kung isa kayo sa mga pinuntahan ng mga contact tracer, kabilang na po kayo agad dito sa mga at risk,'' Baleña said.

Under the DOH memorandum, individuals with no symptoms are also considered at-risk if they had relevant history of travel and/or contact to an infected person.

Health workers, returning migrant workers, locally stranded individuals, other vulnerable patients, and economy workers are also among those considered at-risk to COVID-19.

Latest data from the Department of Health showed that there were over three million individuals who have undergone COVID-19 tests in the Philippines, more than 276,000 of whom were confirmed to be positive for the virus. -MDM, GMA News