China's inclusion in PH 'green list' justified by Roque
A Palace official has defended the Inter-Agency Task Force's (IATF) inclusion of China in the government's "green-list" countries despite the reported coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks there.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque enumerated in a virtual press conference Friday, Oct. 29 the IATF's new risk-level classification of countries as per resolution no. 146-B using its now-familiar three-tier list.
Conspicuously present on the green list was mainland China, where there have been reported outbreaks of the dreaded COVID-19 as early as a week ago.
"Localized po iyong lockdown sa China pero ang ating classification po ay datos (The lockdown in China is localized, but our classification of data was) based on a nationwide basis," Roque said when asked about China's inclusion.
Green-list nations and jurisdictions are classified as low risk based on COVID-19 incidence rate and case count. As such, travelers coming from these countries are made to accomplish less stringent quarantine protocols upon arriving in the Philippines.
Placed on the green list for the period of Nov. 1 to 15, 2021 aside from China are Algeria, American Samoa, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Cook Islands, Eritrea, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China), Kiribati, Madagascar, Mali, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Montserrat, Nauru, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Niue, North Korea, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Poland, Saba (Special Municipality of the Kingdom of Netherlands), Saint Helena, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Sint Eustatius, Solomon Islands, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Tokelau, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu and Yemen
Only Latvia shall be classified under the "red list", which indicates that the country is high risk for COVID-19 based on incidence rate and case count.
Roque said that all other countries/jurisdictions/territories not mentioned shall be under the "yellow list", or nations tagged as moderate risk for COVID-19 based on the same metrics.
The United States (US) maintained its yellow-list status as per the latest IATF resolution.
China is commonly referred to as the origin country of COVID-19, which has claimed the lives of 4.98 million people worldwide in less than two years.
China is a major donor of COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines.
In a related matter, the IATF expanded to the yellow list the limited international transit hub operations that was previously approved for countries/territories/jurisdictions on the green list.
However, the operations shall be limited to airside transfers between Terminals 1 and 2, and within Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
The IATF likewise approved the creation of a sub-Technical Working Group headed by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) that would formulate and propose recommendations for special pilot testing and quarantine protocols for Filipinos, balikbayans, and their families coming from green and yellow-list countries.