NCR Plus residents aged below 18, above 65 may travel if they get tested for COVID-19

BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — NCR Plus residents who are 18 years old below and those who are 65 and above are also allowed to travel on areas under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) as long as they could show that they had undergone swab tests for COVID-19, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said here Tuesday.

The NCR Plus consists of Metro Manila and adjacent provinces Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal.

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Earlier, Puyat said the Interagency Taskforce on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) had already allowed NCR Plus residents aged 18 to 65 to travel tho MGCQ areas.

“The story here is that, at first, the IATF allowed leisure [travel] but with an age restriction. It said those below 18 and above 65 are not allowed,” Puyat told reporters in Filipino in an ambush interview.

“So we asked the IATF if it would allow it if those aged below 18 and above 65 are tested before their travel. And it was allowed,” she added.

Puyat also clarified that tourists from the NCR Plus who fall within the 18-to-65 age group should also have RT-PCR if required by the local government unit of their destination.

“But mostly the protocols all require testing before travel. But we just made it a condition so that those aged below 18 and above 65 would be allowed to go out. But they need to have a swab, RT-PCR swab,” Puyat said.

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