Malacañang said that the new testing and quarantine protocols that the government's pandemic task force has set for travelers coming from "green" and "yellow" countries will apply retroactively to travelers who may have arrived in the Philippines before the policy took effect.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque made the statement after the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases allowed fully vaccinated travelers to spend less time in quarantine facilities if their reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) would turn out negative.
In his press briefing on Monday, Oct. 11, Roque advised travelers from the said territories who are still in quarantine facilities in the country should already opt for an RT-PCR test so they can go home and continue their 10-day quarantine at home.
Based on the updated guidelines, fully vaccinated individuals coming from green or yellow list countries need to undergo facility-based quarantine until the release of their negative RT-PCR testing taken on the fifth day.
They shall then be required to undergo home quarantine until their 10th day, with the day of arrival as their first day.
On the other hand, unvaccinated, partially vaccinated, or individuals whose vaccination status cannot be independently verified or confirmed as valid or authentic by our authorities coming from the said lists of countries shall be required to undergo facility-based quarantine until the release of their RT-PCR testing taken on the seventh day.
They shall then be required to undergo home quarantine until their 14th day, with the day of arrival as their first day.
For both instances, the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) shall ensure strict symptom monitoring while the individuals are in the facility.
Meanwhile, foreign nationals shall be required to secure their own pre-booked accommodation of at least six days for the fully vaccinated; and at least eight days for the unvaccinated, partially vaccinated, or individuals whose vaccination status cannot be independently confirmed by local authorities.
As of Oct. 1, Bermuda is the only country placed on the country's red list until Oct. 15. This list is for countries considered as "high risk" based on the rate of coronavirus (COVID-19) infections. Meanwhile, 49 countries are on the green list until Oct. 15.
The green-list countries are the following:
- American Samoa
- Burkina Faso
- Cameroon
- Cayman Islands
- Chad
- China (mainland)
- Comoros
- Republic of the Congo
- Djibouti
- Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
- Hungary
- Madagascar
- Mali
- Federated States of Micronesia
- Montserrat
- New Zealand
- Niger
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Palau
- Poland
- Saba (Special Municipality of the Kingdom of Netherlands)
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon
- Sierra Leone
- Sint Eustatius
- Taiwan
- Algeria
- Bhutan
- Cook Islands
- Eritrea
- Kiribati
- Marshall Islands
- Nauru
- Nicaragua
- Niue
- North Korea
- Saint Helena
- Samoa
- Solomon Islands
- Sudan
- Syria
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Tokelau
- Tonga
- Turkmenistan
- Tuvalu
- Uzbekistan
- Vanuatu
- Yemen
Countries, territories, and jurisdictions not mentioned are under the yellow list and considered as "moderate risk".