Video courtesy of Kapihan sa Manila Bay

MANILA — The Department of Health on Wednesday said that travelers from the United Kingdom arriving before the travel ban takes effect in the country on Christmas eve would have to undergo quarantine in New Clark City in Tarlac even if they get a negative COVID-19 test result upon arrival.

This, after government said Wednesday morning that it would be banning flights from the UK from Dec. 24 to 31 over fears of a new, potentially more potent coronavirus strain— an announcement made less than 24 hours before it was to be effective.

“We will only allow the entry of passengers who are already in transit to the country, provided that they arrive before 12:01 AM of 24 December 2020, and that they shall be required to undergo mandatory completion of the 14-day quarantine at the Athlete’s Village in New Clark City regardless of RT-PCR test results,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said during a Kapihan sa Manila Bay virtual forum.

• Philippines suspends flights from UK Dec 24-31 over new COVID-19 strain

Duque said initial analysis from the Philippine Genome Center at the University of the Philippines showed that the UK variant is not yet detected in the Philippines.

• No contagious new COVID-19 strain monitored in PH, says DOH

However, “given the anticipated surge this holiday season, we cannot afford another factor that may affect the transmission rate of SARS-CoV-2,” he said.

“We have witnessed what a spike in cases mean to us—the extensive lockdowns and how it has affected our families, our health care workers, the small businesses and large enterprises alike. We do not want that to happen again,” he added.

The quarantine site in Tarlac was previously used to house athletes who participated in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. It was converted to a quarantine facility at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic for returning Filipinos coming from high-risk areas.

Duque said the 14-day quarantine in New Clark City regardless of the COVID-19 test result is a precautionary measure.

“Unang una hindi natin alam o nakakasiguro patungkol sa bagong strain,” he said. “Yung kanilang test kasi pwede rin false negative kung medyo maaga aga na-swab.”

(First of all, we don’t know a lot about this new strain…the test can also be a false negative if the swabbing was done early.)

The DOH had previously explained that the COVID-19 virus has an incubation period of 2 to 14 days. If a person is tested before the incubation period, the viral load might not be enough to be detected.

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