PH updates list of ‘green’ countries which qualifies vaccinated travelers to shorter quarantine

FILE PHOTO: Repatriated Overseas Filipino Workers or OFWs arrive at an airport after being allowed to go home following weeks of quarantine amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines May 26, 2020. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

MANILA, Philippines — The COVID-19 task force on Friday issued an updated list of “green” countries which qualifies where a fully vaccinated person must come from to qualify for a shorter quarantine period upon arrival in the Philippines.

Under the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases’ guidelines, fully vaccinated travelers coming from these countries entering the country will undergo a seven-day facility-based quarantine, instead of 10 days.

“Green” countries are those considered low-risk based on their COVID-19 diseases incidence rate.

The IATF’s updated list added the following 11 jurisdictions in the list of “green” countries: Azerbaijan, Barbados, Bermuda, Comoros, Curacao, Dominica, Gabon, Liechtenstein, Mali, North Macedonia, and Romania.

At the same time, the IATF also removed 11 areas from the list: Belize, Burundi, Liberia, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sierra Leone, Senegal, and Zimbabwe.

In a statement, IATF and presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the following were the updated list of “green” countries by the task force:

Albania
American Samoa
Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Australia
Azerbaijan
Barbados
Benin
Bermuda
The British Virgin Islands
Brunei
Burkina Faso
Cayman Islands
Chad
China
Comoros
Cote d’ Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
Curacao
Dominica
Eswatini
Falkland Islands
French Polynesia
Gabon
Gambia
Ghana
Greenland
Grenada
Hong Kong
Iceland
Isle of Man
Israel
Laos
Liechtenstein
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritius
Federated States of Micronesia
Montserrat
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Niger
Nigeria
North Macedonia
Northern Mariana Islands
Palau
Romania
Saba (Special Municipality of the Kingdom of Netherlands)
Saint Barthelemy
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Singapore
Sint Eustatius
South Korea
Taiwan
Togo
Turks and Caicos Islands (UK)
Vietnam

Travelers qualified for the shortened quarantine period should have stayed the past 14 days exclusively in the aforementioned countries prior to arrival in the country.

Inbound passengers are considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 two or more weeks after receiving a single-dose jab or the second shot of a two-dose vaccine.

EDV