The government's pandemic task force has allowed the interzonal point-to-point travel of individuals from the National Capital Region (NCR) to areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified GCQ (MGCQ).
Based on the Resolution No. 142 of the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the new travel protocols cover the following individuals from NCR:
- Those outside the 18-65 age group
- Fully vaccinated individuals with health risks
- Fully vaccinated pregnant women
However, their travel is still subject to guidelines and health protocols as may be prescribed by the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the local government unit (LGU) of their destination.
NCR is currently under the pilot implementation of the new Alert Levels System. The region is placed under Alert Level 4.
Close contact protocols
Meanwhile, the IATF has also approved the new protocols for fully vaccinated individuals who happened to be close contacts of probable and confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) cases.
Fully vaccinated individuals who are close contacts of probable and confirmed COVID-19 cases may undergo quarantine for seven days provided they remain asymptomatic for the duration of the said period.
The first day will be the date immediately after their last exposure.
In the event that a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test needs to be performed, it may be done not earlier than the fifth day after the date of the last exposure.
Should the RT-PCR test yield a positive result, or the individual becomes symptomatic, they shall follow the prescribed testing and isolation protocols.
On the other hand, no testing and quarantine shall be required for close contacts who may have been traced beyond the seventh day from the last exposure and who have remained asymptomatic.
Meanwhile, unvaccinated or partially vaccinated individuals who may be close contacts of suspect, probable, and confirmed COVID-19 cases shall undergo a 14-day quarantine.