MANILA: The Philippines’ top health official says there is no need yet to shut the country’s borders or impose tighter Covid restrictions on inbound Chinese travellers, bucking moves by other countries including the United States to require tests for visitors from China amid a renewed surge in infections there.
“The direction of this administration is that as much as possible, restrictions should be minimal where we don’t compromise health but we also favour the opening up of the economy,” Maria Rosario Vergeire, the officer in charge at the Department of Health said at a briefing on Thursday.
The agency is confident that existing health protocols are sufficient, she added.
Vergeire said the country is in a “much better position currently” with most of the population fully vaccinated and that citizens have learned to adopt good health practices.
Her comments were in contrast to those of Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista, who is in favour of testing Chinese visitors.
Thailand, the most popular destination in Southeast Asia for Chinese travellers, will not require any special measures, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Thursday.
The US and Italy have joined an increasing number of countries requiring Covid tests for travellers from China. In Italy, where health officials said they would test arrivals from China, almost half of the passengers on two flights from China to Milan this week were found to have the virus.
China is seeing outbreaks across the country, with almost 37 million people possibly having been infected on a single day last week. At the same time, Chinese authorities have announced a border reopening on Jan 8 and an end to quarantine requirements to people arriving from abroad.
