SPEAKER Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez on Sunday said the decision of the World Health Organization (WHO) to lift its Covid-19 global health emergency declaration will pave the way for more Philippines economic activities.
Romualdez welcomed the WHO decision, even as another lawmaker said it should prompt local authorities to finally lift the entry restrictions on international travelers who must first comply with the tedious eTravel registration requirement that was earlier part of Covid-related health protocols.
Romualdez said the lifting of the global health emergency “should pave the way for us to sustain our economic growth or even take the economy to a higher growth path for the benefit of our people, especially the poor.”
It should translate, he added, “to increased mobility, more economic activities and therefore additional job and income opportunities for our workers and their families.”
However, the House leader reminded the public “to wear a face mask when needed, wash your hands, isolate when sick, observe physical distancing, and get vaccinated” to avoid Covid-19.
The Speaker also urged the Department of Health (DoH) and the government’s Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) managing the country’s response to the pandemic to prescribe minimum health protocols consistent with the WHO decision to scuttle its global health
emergency declaration.
“I think our people have learned to live with the virus. Though there is no wear-face-mask mandate, many of them continue to wear mask and observe physical distancing. They are aware of the residual threat and they are not letting their guard down,” he said.
The House leader said the WHO decision and the lifting of travel restrictions by several countries, including the United States and Japan, could result in freer travel and more tourists visiting the Philippines.
“Let the concerned government agencies and sectors of the economy prepare for this possibility, which will benefit tourist destinations and local communities,” he said.
At the same time, he asked the DOH to continue encouraging people to avail themselves of free Covid-19 vaccination the government is offering.
He noted that though most of the population already had their primary shots, many still have to receive their first and second boosters, while only a small number had not taken advantage of free vaccination.
The House leader also asked local officials to continue to monitor the situation in their respective areas and to immediately take steps whenever there is a spike in Covid-19 cases.
“Let us promptly attend to those needing help so that this virus does not infect more people and lead to more deaths,” he said.
“The decision shows that countries around the globe, including the Philippines, have succeeded through collaborative effort in fighting the highly infectious novel coronavirus and its variants, though they remain a threat to public health,” Romualdez said.
‘Ditch eTravel’
Meanwhile, a senior lawmaker called on the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to ditch its tedious eTravel registration requirement
for incoming international
travelers to entice more tourists and prospective investors to come to the Philippines.
Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte reiterated his call on the IATF to get rid of this one remaining vestige of the stringent health protocols that most governments imposed three years ago to check the spread of the lethal coronavirus.
“With WHO declaring that the period of Covid-19 as a PHEIC is already over and that the switch to the long-term management of the coronavirus must now be the priority, there is all the more reason for the IATF to get rid of the eTravel requirement imposed on inbound travelers, as a way to further entice tourists and prospective investors to come to the Philippines as our country transitions fully to the post-pandemic ‘new normal,’” Villafuerte said.
“Junking the tedious, time-consuming eTravel registration process would further convince the international investor community that the domestic economy has completely reopened for business and entice more international tourists to come see the Philippines,” he said.
Despite the WHO’s declaration, Villafuerte called on Filipinos to remain on guard against Covid-19 and to continue adhering to minimum public health standards such as physical distancing and mask-wearing, especially in high-risk areas for the elderly, immunocompromised individuals and those with comorbidities.
Villafuerte said the lifting of the eTravel requirement is not expected to bump up Covid-19 infections to alarming levels, given that the DOH and private health experts believe that despite the current spike in this virus’ positivity rate, there is no reason to panic because of the low healthcare utilization rate (HCUR), which is the more critical criterion.
Although OCTA Research projects the weekly positivity rate—which is the percentage of those found positive for Covid-19 from all those tested for the virus at a given week—possibly rising to as high as 25 percent, its research fellow Fredegusto David said the good news is that he and other experts do not expect HCUR to reach a critical level and will not go up to 40 percent or beyond.
The DOH, which defines HCUR as the combined use of ICUs, isolation beds, and mechanical ventilators, sees healthcare utilization remaining low partly because of the mass immunization drive.
DOH Officer-in-Charge (OIC) and Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire assured lawmakers at a recent House committee on appropriations hearing that the higher Covid-19 positivity rate is expected, and is not a cause for alarm, because of the shift in testing protocols, in which those being tested for the virus are those most likely to be infected.
Moreover, she said that over 90 percent of those found to be infected are “mild and asymptomatic cases,” and that just 8-9 percent of those with Covid-19 are “classified as sever and critical.”
The more important criterion, she added, is the HCUR, which remains at low risk “because of the wall of immunity due to vaccination.”
Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco expects domestic tourism to recover 100 percent this year, but she sees a full recovery of international tourism happening in 2024 yet, Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte said he supported the department’s goal of boosting the industry by marketing the Philippines as a medical and wellness tourism destination, but added that one immediate way to attract more international visitors is to lift the eTravel requirement on inbound travelers.
“The influx of more international visitors likely to be induced by the further relaxation of border travel requirements on incoming passengers will likely accelerate the full recovery of international tourism, boosting tourist spending receipts from this once booming sector that is crucial to our economy’s robust bounce back from the erstwhile global health and financial crises,” he said.
A lot more people can be enticed to go to as earlier ordered by the IATF, all incoming travelers are mandated to indicate in their respective eTravel papers that they had been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 or, if not, to present the results of antigen tests taken within three days of their flights certifying that they are negative of the coronavirus.
Inbound passengers who cannot present either will be required to take RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) tests upon their arrival in a Philippine airport, and, if found Covid-positive, will be required to stay in a local quarantine facility for 7 to 10 days, depending on whether the infected travelers are fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated or unvaccinated.