Philippines scraps facility quarantine for fully vaxxed travelers from 'green countries'

The Philippine government has removed the mandatory quarantine in a facility for inbound travelers fully vaccinated against COVID-19 from their country of origin classified as "green country" or with low risk of infection, the Palace said Wednesday.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the travelers must present a negative result of their RT-PCR test taken 72 hours before departure.  Upon arrival, they are instead required to undergo home quarantine for 14 days.

Countries classified under green countries or with low risk of COVID-19 infection are the following:

• American Samoa
• Burkina Faso
• Cameroon
• Cayman Islands
• Chad
• China
• Comoros
• Republic of the Congo
• Djibouti
• Equatorial Guinea Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
• Gabon
• Hungary
• Madagascar
• Mali
• Federated States of Micronesia
• Montserrat
• New Caledonia
• New Zealand
• Niger
• Northern Mariana Islands
• Palau
• Poland
• Saba (Special Municipality of the Kingdom of Netherlands)
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon
• Sierra Leone
• Sint Eustatius
• Taiwan
• Algeria
• Bhutan
• Cook Islands
• Eritrea
• Kiribati
• Marshall Islands
• Nauru
• Nicaragua
• Niue
• North Korea
• Saint Helena
• Samoa
• Solomon Islands
• Sudan
• Syria
• Tajikistan
• Tanzania
• Tokelau
• Tonga
• Turkmenistan
• Tuvalu
• Vanuatu and
• Yemen

Likewise, unvaccinated or partially vaccinated minor children traveling with their fully vaccinated parents or guardians will be required to observe the quarantine protocols corresponding to their vaccination status. 

The rest of the inbound travelers who do not meet the above mentioned requirements are mandated to undergo a facility-based quarantine until the release of a negative RT-PCR test taken on the fifth day of quarantine.  In the case of foreigners, they will be required to secure hotel reservations for at least six days. 

In addition, a parent or guardian is obliged to accompany the child in the quarantine facility for the full term of the latter’s facility-based quarantine period.

The validation of COVID-19 vaccination status of overseas Filipino workers and their spouse, parents, and/or children traveling in the Philippines or abroad, non-OFWs vaccinated in the country and abroad, and foreigners vaccinated in the Philippines will be conducted with the inbound travelers presenting either their VaxCertPH digital certificate, Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) / World Health Organization (WHO)–issued International Certificate of Vaccination (ICV) or Prophylaxis, or the national digital certificate of the foreign government where they were vaccinated. 

In the case of foreigners vaccinated abroad, they can present WHO-issued ICV, or the national digital certificate of the foreign government which has accepted VaxCertPH under a reciprocal agreement.—LDF, GMA News