DOH to look into reverting quarantine period to 3-days for ROFs

As the Christmas season nears, the Department of Health (DOH) will look into the proposal of reverting the quarantine period to three days for returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) who test negative for COVID-19.

This was after the Inter-Agency Task Force changed the quarantine protocols for travelers arriving from countries that are not on the red list to five days.

“Tignan natin. Habang pumapasok ang bagong kaalaman patungkol sa Omicron variant (we will see while we are still studying the Omicron variant),” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said during the Laging Handa briefing Tuesday.

Duque, however, said it is better to wait for more data.

“But anyway, maigi na rin ‘yung magantay pa tayo ng karagdagang impormasyon at datos para mas malinaw at magabayan tayo in terms of calibrating our response,” he said.

(But, anyway, we should wait for additional information and data so we can be clearly guided in terms of calibrating our response.)

“And part of this is whether we should bring back the quarantine period from five days to three days,” he added.

(Part of this is whether we should bring back the quarantine period from five days to three days.)

The Health secretary issued the remark when asked about the appeal of Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion on reverting the facility quarantine period before December 15.

Citing World Health Organization country representative Dr. Rabi Abeyasinghe, Duque said more evidence is showing that the Omicron variant may only cause mild COVID-19.

He said data also showed that hospitalization rates due to the variant were not rising.

“Ang hospitalization mukhang hindi naman sumisipa. Mukhang hospitalization admission follows the same curve for Alpha and Delta so parang hindi naman ito naiba. Parang sinasabi it’s no cause for alarm,” he said.

(The hospitalization is not increasing. It seems hospitalization admissions follow the same curve for Alpha and Delta. It’s no cause for alarm.) — RSJ, GMA News