The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said that it eyes the removal of COVID-19 testing as a requirement for travel.
The Department of Tourism and DILG earlier said they were crafting guidelines to streamline travel protocols to boost and revive the tourism industry.
DILG Undersecretary Epimaco Densing said the agencies mull the removal of COVID-19 test results, and travel authority, and city health certificate.
“Tinitingnan rin namin ang posibilidad na wala na tayong testing,” he told ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo, adding that those who only need to undergo swabbing are people who are symptomatic, those who do have the virus, or those who came in contact with COVID-19 patients.
(We’re also eyeing the possibility of not including testing.)
“Kung ikaw ay walang ganung klaseng exposure, hindi po mandated talaga ang testing. Banggit po ng ating mga epidemiologists, as long as meron kang minimum health standards…95 percent po hindi po tayo makakapaghawa at hindi rin tayo mahahawa.”
(If you don’t have exposure, you’re not really mandated to undergo testing. Our epidemiologists say that as you observe minimum health standards, 95 percent you won’t contract the disease or infect anyone.)
Also read: Duterte says no face-to-face classes until August this year
DILG mulls removal of COVID-19 test as travel requirement
Cebu no longer requires domestic tourists to show a negative COVID-19 test, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia announced on Monday.
“We’ll make it simpler. No more RT-PCR tests. No more antigen test. No more rapid test,” Garcia, speaking in mixed English and Cebuano languages.
“We will make it easier for all tourists to come into the province of Cebu,” she added.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom COVID-19 variant has been found in at least 5 regions in the Philippines, according to the Department of Health (DOH).
According to the DOH, the samples found positive for the allegedly more contagious UK variant came from the Cordillera Administrative Region, National Capital Region (NCR), Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), Central Visayas, Northern Mindanao, and Davao Region.