Philippines OKs shorter quarantine for fully vaxxed travelers from 'yellow' list countries

Malacañang on Friday said the government task force on pandemic response has approved a shortened mandatory facility-based quarantine period for fully vaccinated inbound travelers from countries under yellow list.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said these fully vaccinated travelers from yellow countries will be subjected to an RT-PCR test during the fifth day of mandatory quarantine.

A negative RT-PCR test result will allow them to finish the rest of the 10-day quarantine period at home.

Foreign travelers from yellow list countries, on the other hand, are required to secure their pre-booked accommodation of at least six days.

For unvaccinated or partially vaccinated travelers, or individuals whose vaccination status cannot be independently verified by Philippine authorities as valid and authentic coming from the Yellow List, they shall undergo a facility-based quarantine until the release of a negative RT-PCR test taken on the seventh day, Roque said.

"After which, they shall be required to undergo home quarantine until their 14th day," he added.

Roque said that yellow countries include countries that are not under green or red lists.

Countries under green list according to the government are:

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

Meanwhile, Romania is the only country under red list.

Color-coded classifications

Those under "yellow" list are countries/jurisdictions/ territories that are “moderate Risk” for COVID-19 based on the following metrics:

• for populations greater than 100,000, the incidence rate shall be 50 to 500;
• for populations less than 100,000, the COVID-19 case counts shall be 50 to 500;
• testing rate of tests over the past 28 days per 100,000 population

On the other hand, under "red" are countries/jurisdictions/territories as “High Risk” based on the following metrics:

• for populations greater than 100,000 the incidence rate shall be more than 500;
• for populations less than 100,000, the COVID-19 case counts shall be more than 500,
• testing rate of tests over the past 28 days per 100,000 population

Lastly, the green states and jurisdictions have been classified as "low-risk countries or jurisdictions based on disease incidence rate."  —KBK, GMA News