DOH Coordinates w/ Gov’t Agencies to Locate 8 Travelers from South Africa
DOH – The Department of Health is yet to locate the eight (8) travelers from South Africa due to incorrect and incomplete personal information.
A new variant of COVID-19 was recently detected in South Africa and it alarmed countries across the globe. The World Health Organization (WHO) named the said variant Omicron.
Omicron was reported to be a “heavily mutated” variant of COVID-19 thus the World Health warned nations to prevent its entry and spread by boosting the efforts. Several nations were quick to implement travel bans on travelers from nations with confirmed cases of the variant of concern.
At least 17 countries across the globe have recorded cases of Omicron. The Philippines is one of the nations that is currently tightening its borders on Red List countries.
However, prior to the detection and confirmation of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, there were already travelers from South Africa who have arrived in the Philippines. It was before the borders were tightened.
Based on a report on ABS-CBN News, the Department of Health (DOH) is currently locating eight (8) travelers from South Africa. They are among those who arrived in the country between November 15-29.
According to DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, the challenge in locating the eight (8) travelers from South Africa are the incorrect personal information that they have provided. Some of them provided incomplete contact numbers or addresses while two (2) of them are not answering calls.
Meanwhile, the Health Department assured that they are already coordinating with the government agencies and the localities in finding the travelers. More updates may be posted soon.
Furthermore, DOH said that they have already flagged the Bureau of Quarantine and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) about it. They are urging travelers to coordinate with their regional health offices right away. More updates may be posted soon.
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