The provincial government of Negros Oriental has eased the requirements for its returning residents and travelers.
Governor Roel Degamo issued an executive order on Wednesday, March 10, amending the previous order that requires mandatory Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests for locally stranded individuals and returning overseas Filipinos.
The governor’s new order adopted national Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases Resolution No. 101, which sets uniform travel protocols for land, air and sea.
Travelers are no longer required to present a negative RT-PCR result, the EO said, adding the guidelines shall be binding in all component cities and municipalities within the province.
“Upon arrival, if a traveler manifests signs and symptoms of influenza-like illnesses after assessment by the medical team, the traveler shall be subjective to an RT-PCR test,” it said.
While waiting for the result of the RT-PCR result, the traveler shall be held at the quarantine or isolation facility of the sea, air, and land terminals, the order said.
Those who will be found positive will be transferred to an isolation facility managed by the destination local government unit, it said, adding that those with a negative result will be allowed to go home.
Barangay officials were also told to direct their local Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams to monitor the health status of the travelers who arrive in their areas.
Border control remains to be in effect, the EO said.*