The Health Department said that the Inter-Agency Task Force or IATF has no plans to expand countries under ‘red list’ for now amid the threat of the Omicron COVID-19 variant.
Health Spokesperson Ma. Rosario Vergeire made the response when asked if the DOH will recommend further expanding the travel ban amid the looming threat of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
“Unang-una, hindi ho natin pwedeng isara ang Pilipinas from the rest of the world. So, ‘yan po ‘yung prinsipyong pinanghahawakan ng Inter-Agency Task Force kaya ang ating mga eksperto nag-rekomenda na lang po ng mga protocols, stricter than before, so that at least we can ensure that we can still guard our borders kasi alam naman po natin na talagang kakalat at pupunta sa iba’t ibang bansa ang variant na ito. It is not really a matter of not having it inside our country, but when will it enter the country,” Vergeire told ABS-CBN News.
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The health official said that the entry of the dreaded variant is inevitable.
“It is not really a matter of not having it inside our country, but when will it enter the country,” she further said.
“So, napagkasunduan po sa IATF na hindi muna po natin dadagdagan dahil padagdag na nang padagdag ang mga bansa. Ang gagawin natin mas i-intensify natin ang ating ginagawang controls sa ating borders,” Vergeire added.
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The government has yet to detect an Omicron variant case.
“Kapag tayo ay gumagawa ng response, lagi natin tatandaan, ang pagpasok ng mga variants dito sa ating bansa, we cannot 100 percent control or prevent the entry of these variants. Ang ginagawa natin, we buy time when we prepare our system at gumawa tayo ng mga ganitong effort, sa ngayon stricter border controls, biosurveillance, ‘yung ating community response. This buys us time. Hindi natin sinasabi na it will not enter the country. Ang pinag-uusapan natin ngayon, when it will enter the country,” she said.
The World Health Organization raises concern over the move of some countries to issue blanket measures against the Omicron COVID-19 variant and could penalized African nations.
“I well understand the concern of all countries to protect their citizens against a variant that we don’t yet fully understand,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom COVID-19 variant was first reported in South Africa.
The newly discovered variant is feared to be more contagious and could lead to immune escape amid the global vaccine roll out. (TDT)
