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UAE-Philippines flights: Hotel quarantine scrapped for all fully vaccinated travellers

The measure goes into effect from February 1

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Fully vaccinated Filipinos travelling home from the UAE and around the world will no longer have to undergo facility-based quarantine upon arrival, starting February 1, the Philippine government said on Friday.

The Southeast Asian country will also grant entry to vaccinated foreign tourists from February 10. All fully jabbed inbound travellers will have to present a negative RT-PCR test result taken within 48 hours prior to departure.

Under the new decision, the Philippines had also scrapped the colour-coded classification of countries for its Covid protocols. Earlier, nations were classified as red, yellow and green.

Presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles noted, however, that travellers will have to monitor themselves for any sign and symptom for seven days, with the first day being the date of arrival.

Should they develop symptoms, they must report to their respective local government units, Nograles told local media.

As proof of vaccination, arriving passengers must present any of the following:

- World Health Organisation international certificates of vaccination

- VaxCertPH

- National/state digital certificate of the government which has accepted

- VaxCertPH under a reciprocal arrangement, unless otherwise permitted by the Philippine government

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Those who are unvaccinated, partially jabbed or others whose vaccination status cannot be validated will be required to undergo facility-based quarantine until the release of the result of their PCR test taken on the fifth day, the government added.

The Philippines, popular for its white sand beaches and rich marine life, joins other Southeast Asian countries in reopening to tourists to boost jobs and help their economies recover.

Tourist arrivals in the Philippines from top markets Japan, South Korea and China slumped 83 per cent drop to 1.4 million last year.

(With inputs from Reuters)

• coronavirus
• Philippines