DOH sets ‘heightened surveillance’ on China

MANILA, Philippines — All health facilities and other concerned government units are now on “heightened surveillance” of all travelers, especially those coming from China.

In a memorandum released late Saturday, the Department of Health (DOH) ordered continuous coordination among concerned agencies and intensify the implementation of border control protocols in all ports of entry.

DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire issued the order amid the COVID-19 surge in the East Asian country.

“Following the recent increase in COVID-19 cases in China, there is a need for the country to intensify the monitoring and implementation of border control protocols for incoming individuals, especially from China, at all ports of entry,” Vergeire said.

She added that concerned agencies must undertake heightened surveillance on all respiratory symptoms in all travelers and conveyances coming from China.

She further ordered close monitoring of the maritime declaration of health and the health portion of the Aircraft General Declaration.

The DOH official likewise required concerned government agencies to report “intercepted symptomatic passengers” during arrival screening and those COVID-19-positive travelers from points of entry.

Vergeire stressed the need for coordination with airport and seaport terminal authorities for the possible re-establishment of testing of inbound travelers from high-alert countries.

In anticipation of possible COVID-19 case increases, she directed all Centers for Health Development (CHD) nationwide to continue strict implementation of minimum public health standards to ensure minimal local transmission.

She further ordered the CHD to implement updated testing and isolation protocols, monitoring of hospital utilization rates as well as other transmission mitigation measures.

The Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) was earlier ordered to intensify quarantine protocols in handling travelers from China.

Foreign travelers not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are required to present a negative pre-departure antigen or RT-PCR test result before travel or upon arrival.

Health system ready

Amid these developments, the DOH yesterday assured the public of the health system’s capability to respond to a possible rise in COVID-19 cases in the coming days.

At a press conference, Vergeire said COVID-19 cases are expected to go up after the holidays.

The DOH official, however, ruled out a possible COVID-19 surge similar to what is happening in China.

Unlike in China, she said the Philippines is easing the COVID-19 restrictions slowly, thus enabling the community to imbibe the proper behavior against COVID-19.

She added that the continued wearing of face masks would work in preventing a surge in COVID-19 cases similar to China.

“In the event that cases will rise in the coming days, it is expected because we celebrated the holidays... Hopefully, it won’t be that high, and if ever that happens, our system is ready so we can make it through the surge,” Vergeire said mostly in Filipino.

“Cases would always happen. We will not hit zero at this point, but what’s important is that we are ready,” she added.

The state of calamity already ended, but the DOH has submitted to the Office of the President (OP) recommendations allowing the country to implement other options, according to the health official.

Vergeire noted that they expect the OP to respond to the DOH’s recommended measures by tomorrow or within the week.

She said the government has been continuously preparing for the possible rise in COVID-19 cases, and hospitals in various parts of the country are ready to set up additional beds in case of a surge.

She added that enough supply of antivirals is also available to prevent the progression of COVID into severe and critical forms of the infection.

Almost 94 percent of the population are fully vaccinated, thus protected from COVID-19, according to the DOH.

“But we still need to have booster shots so that we will have higher protection for ourselves and our family,” Vergeire said.

Since the start of the Marcos administration in June last year, the DOH has started integrating COVID-19 response into the regular public health programs.

Vergeire said there are already 46 functional specialty hospitals and 104 more centers will be put up this year.

Immigration travel restrictions

Amid another COVID-19 case surge in China, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) yesterday said its personnel in various airports and seaports across the country are preparing to implement possible travel restrictions against passengers coming from the country.

The agency is preparing the measure after several countries expressed that they are considering travel bans, according to BI commissioner Norman Tansingco.

“We take the cue from the DOH, the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) and the Office of the President on implementing travel restrictions,” Tansingco said in a statement.

“While we have not received any directive yet about it, we are ready at any time to implement any such measures that the government deems appropriate to prevent another surge in the Philippines,” he added.

From 2020, the BI implemented country-specific travel bans on countries to prevent the entry of certain COVID-19 variants.

The BI also reported that 30,002 Chinese tourists entered the country last year.

“Chinese nationals used to take the second highest spot in the number of arrivals in the country, next to South Koreans,” Tansingco said.

“But during the pandemic, due to travel bans both here and in their home country, the number has drastically dropped,” he added, stressing that the number was 0.48 percent of the BI’s total recorded arrivals of over 6.1 million travelers in 2022. – Neil Jayson Servallos, Rudy Santos