Barangay Health Workers Rep. Angelica Natasha Co urged the government on Saturday to tighten the country’s borders and expand travel restrictions to prevent the entry of a new coronavirus variant now spreading in southern Africa.
Co said the travel ban on seven African nations won’t be enough to keep away the new SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern named Omicron by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO cited it as the cause of a high number of mutations and the rise in COVID-19 infections in South Africa. (See related stories on Page A3 and in World, Page A13)
The government has announced the temporary suspension of flights from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana, and Mozambique.
Cabinet Secretary and acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles on Saturday said the suspension would take effect immediately and would be in place until Dec. 15.
“This is to clarify that the Inter-Agency Task Force’s temporary suspension of inbound international flights from South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe contained in IATF Resolution 150, supersedes the earlier Green List classification of the three abovementioned countries in IATF Resolution 148-A,” Nograles said.
The Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), which made the decision to suspend the flights, cited local cases, or the likelihood of cases caused by the Omicron variant in those countries.
South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe were previously included in the “green list” of countries with a low risk of COVID-19 transmission. Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Mozambique were on the “yellow list.” The IATF is expected to update this list by next month.
In a statement, Co said the travel restrictions should also cover Hong Kong and Israel, where the new variant was reported to have caused infections.
Co urged the IATF and airline companies to “please act fast to stop the spread of the latest highly infectious variant.”
She pointed out that COVID-19 variants were able to enter the country in the past “because of our defective and poor border controls because we allow returning Filipinos to pass through our border controls.”
The WHO on Friday reminded individuals to take measures to reduce their risk of getting COVID-19, including proven public health and social measures, such as wearing well-fitting masks, hand hygiene, physical distancing, improving the ventilation of indoor spaces, avoiding crowded spaces, and getting vaccinated. (©Philippine Daily Inquirer 2021)
