Palace justifies waiving of negative RT-PCR test result for fully vaccinated tourists

Malacañang on Thursday justified the waiving of negative RT-PCR COVID-19 test result as requirement for domestic tourists, saying such negative test is not a full guarantee of being COVID-19 free.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque was referring to the government’s decision of easing border restrictions for fully vaccinated domestic tourists by requiring them to present their vaccination card instead of a negative RT-PCR test result.

“Ang siyensiya naman po, 'pag nabakunahan na, hindi ka na magkakasakit ng malala, napakaliit na ng tsansa na makapanghawa, although meron pa rin,” he said.

“Wala naman talagang 100% guarantee. Even if you test negative with RT-PCR, [there are cases where ] the virus could not be immediately captured, so there is no 100% guarantee in a pandemic,” he added.

Roque, however, recognized the concerns raised by the local government units (LGUs) but did not guarantee change of policy.

“The concerns of the LGUs will be addressed, but as of the moment, there is no new IATF resolution on this,” he added.

IATF is the Inter Agency Task Force which is the state’s policy body for its COVID-19 response.

Government records show the country is still recording around 4,000 new COVID-19 cases daily.—AOL, GMA News