Inbound travelers to Negros Oriental can now present a vaccination card and negative antigen test for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) as alternate entry requirements, a provincial official said Thursday.
Capitol Information Officer Bimbo Miraflor, in an interview, said a traveler to Negros Oriental now has this option over the previous requirement of a negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test result. The latter is a stand-alone requirement while the other two must be presented together, he noted.
Miraflor said a fully vaccinated person is not guaranteed free of Covid-19 so it shall also be required of that individual to present a negative antigen result.
The Department of Health (DOH) issued an advisory on Wednesday on the testing requirement for domestic travelers, specifically on Resolution No. 124-B of the national Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
It stated that while the DOH is “ironing out the operational concerns raised by some implementers, IATF Resolution No. 101 remains in effect”, allowing local government units (LGUs) “the flexibility” to require a negative RT-PCR test result before a traveler is allowed entry to a particular destination.
Miraflor said “actually walay conflict ang public advisory sa DOH ug ang atong patakaran nga gihimo sa PIATF (there is really no conflict between the DOH’s public advisory and our provincial IATF’s ruling)” on accepting a vaccination card and negative antigen test result as an alternative to the negative RT-PCR test result.
“Ang ilang giingon dire, wala nila gi-promote ang antigen test as a stand-alone requirement. (What is said in the advisory is they are not promoting the antigen test as a stand-alone requirement),” Miraflor said
Source: Philippines News Agency
