Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles during the Laging Handa press briefing on the update of COVID 19. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Six countries are now under the government’s COVID-19 travel red list from Jan. 1 to Jan 15, Malacañang announced Thursday.
This means travel to and from the said territories is banned.
Acting presidential spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) approved the new country-risk classification that will be effective from Jan. 1 to Jan. 15, 2022.
The following countries are now in the red list:
-Eswatini
-Lesotho
-Malawi
-Mozambique
-Namibia
-Spain
The following are in the green list:
-Bangladesh
-Benin
-Bhutan
-British Virgin Islands
-China (Mainland)
-Cote d’ Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
-Djibouti
-Equatorial Guinea
-Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
-Fiji
-The Gambia
-Guinea
-Hong Kong (Chinese Special Administrative Region)
-Indonesia
-Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
-Liberia
-Montserrat
-Oman
-Pakistan
-Paraguay
-Rwanda
-Saba (Special Municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
-Saint Barthelemy
-Sao Tome and Principe
-Senegal
-Sierra Leone
-Sint Eustatius
-Taiwan
-Timor-Leste (East Timor)
-Togo
-Uganda
-United Arab Emirates
Other areas not mentioned are in the yellow list, Nograles said. However, a country classified under the green list will be moved to the yellow list if a local transmission of the Omicron variant is detected.
The IATF has likewise approved the acceptance and recognition for purposes of arrival quarantine protocols and for interzonal or intrazonal movement the national COVID-19 vaccination certificate of Armenia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Kuwait, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United States of America and Oman.
Nograles said this adds to the list of countries whose proofs of vaccination the IATF already approved for recognition in the Philippines, and without prejudice to such other proofs of vaccination approved by the IATF for all inbound travelers.
The Bureau of Quarantine, the Department of Transportation – One Stop Shop, and the Bureau of Immigration are directed to recognize only the proofs of vaccination thus approved by the IATF, Nograles added.