COVID-19 UPDATE: Foreign Travelers From The US Barred From Entering Phl Due To New Virus Strain

UPDATED: Due to confirmed cases of the new COVID-19 variant, the Philippine government has included the United States among the countries covered by travel restrictions effective Sunday, Jan. 3, until Jan. 15.

This was announced by presidential spokesman Harry Roque on Friday, Jan. 1, following confusion on whether  a travel ban would be imposed on travelers coming from the US due to the new virus strain.

“The Office of the President, upon the joint recommendation of the Department of Health and the Department of Foreign Affairs, included the United States of America (US) as among the countries subject to travel restrictions,”  Roque said in a statement.

In this regard, Roque said foreign passengers coming from or who have been to the US within 14 days immediately preceding arrival in the Philippines, shall be prohibited from entering the country from Jan. 3 to Jan. 15. But those arriving before Jan. 3 shall be allowed to enter the Philippines, effective immediately, and shall be required to undergo an absolute facility-based 14-day quarantine period, even if they obtain a negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction or RT-PCR test result.

The travel restrictions exempt Filipinos who will be coming from the US though they will be subjected to mandatory and absolute facility-based 14-day quarantine period, even if they obtain a negative RT-PCR test result.

“Also, effective immediately, Filipino citizens coming from the US, or who have been to the US, within 14 days immediately preceding arrival in the Philippines, including those arriving after Jan. 3, 2021, 12:01 a.m., Manila time, shall be allowed to enter the Philippines,” Roque said.

 Roque also clarified the Office of the President provided that Filipino and foreign passengers merely transiting through a country in the Philippines' travel ban list “shall not be deemed as having come from or having been to that country, provided the passengers stayed in the airport the whole time and they were not cleared for entry by the immigration authorities of the said country covered by our travel restrictions.”

On Wednesday, the government said the US would likely be included in the list of countries and territories covered by travel restrictions after Colorado reported the first case of the coronavirus variant seen in the United Kingdom (UK).

The variant was found in a man in his 20s who is in isolation southeast of Denver in Elbert County and has no travel history, US health officials said.

 Other countries and territories covered by the travel ban are the UK, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Australia, Israel, The Netherlands, Hong Kong (China), Switzerland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Lebanon, Singapore, Sweden, South Korea, South Africa, Canada and Spain.

 The ban on these countries and territories took effect on Wednesday. It will be enforced until Jan. 15, 2021.

 Read more: Phl Bans Travelers From 20 Countries With Confirmed Cases Of New COVID-19 Strain

 US Officials: Evidence of UK virus strain found in Florida man

Florida health authorities late Thursday, Dec. 31, reported finding evidence of the latest US case of the new and apparently more contagious coronavirus strain first seen in England, saying it was detected in a man with no recent travel history.

The case, disclosed in a Florida Health Department statement tweeted on its HealthyFla site, comes after reports in recent days of multiple individual cases of the United Kingdom strain of COVID-19 discovered in Colorado and California.

 Florida’s health statement said the new virus variant was detected in a man in his 20s in Martin County, which abuts the Atlantic Coast above densely populated South Florida. It said its experts were working with the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control on investigating the case.

The health department did not give further details, such as releasing the man’s medical condition or how the strain was detected.

California on Wednesday became the second state to confirm a case of the new virus strain. The announcement came 24 hours after word of the first reported US variant infection, which emerged in Colorado –  in a Colorado National Guardsman who had been sent to help out at a nursing home struggling with an outbreak.

Scientists in the UK believe the variant is more contagious than previously identified strains. The cases have triggered questions about how the version circulating in England arrived in the US and whether it is too late to stop it now, with top experts saying it is probably already spreading elsewhere in the US.

The Florida Health Department also tweeted late Thursday that experts anticipate little to no impact on the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccinations being rolled out in a state grappling with overwhelming demand for the vaccines from its large senior population.

Also Thursday, state officials reported the highest daily jump in COVID-19 cases ever detected in Florida. The state’s Department of Health reported 17,192 new cases and 133 new deaths, raising the toll to 21,857.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said that people 65 and older – more than 4 million of Florida’s 21 million population – would be prioritized over essential workers to receive the vaccine. But hospitals and health departments have been struggling to keep up with the demand.

 People have clogged hotlines to book appointments, and some seniors have camped out overnight outside vaccination sites, leading some hospitals to hit pause on scheduling further shots.

Traffic event stretched nearly half a mile (0.8 kilometers) from the Health Department’s headquarters near the St. Johns County municipal complex in St. Augustine, where some people said they waited hours for the shot.

DeSantis has begged for patience from anxious seniors, saying vaccine supplies are still limited. But the top state official overseeing the vaccine distribution also acknowledged the systems set up for vaccine distribution in the state “aren’t meeting the moment.”

Jared Moskowitz, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel that the state has directed distribution of about 700,000 dosages of the cocktail, but only about a quarter of those have been used so far.

“That tells me there are vaccines sitting in freezers…we want all of our partners to know it’s their jobs to get the vaccine out there,” Moskowitz said.

Moskowitz also expressed frustration with the federal government for sending limited information on the amount of doses that will be sent, which has complicated state planning.

Meanwhile, hospitalizations due to coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 are still rising. The state’s hospital bed census tallied 6,352 coronavirus patients by late Thursday morning, a slight increase from Wednesday’s figure of 6,331, but much larger than the daily totals in October.

María Elvira Salazar, a Republican who defeated Democratic US Rep. Donna Shalala in November, learned she was infected with the virus during an emergency trip to the hospital for treatment of heart arrhythmia.

Salazar was treated, released and will be quarantined for at least 14 days and miss Sunday’s swearing-in ceremony of the 117th Congress in Washington, her office announced Thursday.

 In a tweet, Salazar said: “I am in quarantine at home & getting better each day. I look forward to hitting the ground running for my community, once it is medically permissible.”