Philippine President Marcos is about to issue an executive order to cancel the mandatory indoor wearing of masks. As Southeast Asian countries gradually loosen their prevention measures for the new crown epidemic, most countries no longer force people to wear masks.
On October 25, local time, Philippine Tourism Minister Christina Garcia Frasco said that Marcos has initially agreed and will issue an executive order to change the indoor mask order to voluntary rather than current mandatory. "After the president's executive order is issued, people must only wear masks in public transportation and medical facilities. However, it is recommended that elderly people and those with illnesses continue to wear masks indoors."
Frasco said that the direction of the Marcos government is to lift the remaining travel restrictions on entry to Philippines , including the relaxation of mask regulations and vaccination regulations, so that the Philippines can compete with the ASEAN neighbors that have long-term relaxed masks and COVID-19 regulations.
Philippines will cancel mandatory mask wear indoors and further relax entry rules. Source: Philippine World Journal
She added: "The first principle of the Marcos government is to let our country convey a signal of openness and readiness to the world, and welcome tourists and investment from all countries to give our compatriots the opportunity to make up for all economic losses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, we are completely unable to continue this state of the epidemic because we must let the country prosper again. On the one hand, we must maintain basic epidemic prevention rules, and on the other hand, we must also protect people's livelihood and economic development."
At the same time, the Philippine government still strongly encourages unvaccinated people, people with comorbidities and the elderly to wear masks. The Philippines will also cancel other epidemic prevention regulations for tourists, including providing a negative nucleic acid test certificate when arriving in the country.
Frasco said: "For unvaccinated foreigners, they will be allowed to enter the Philippines in the future, and they only need to undergo antigen testing within 24 hours before departure or antigen testing upon arrival in the Philippines."
In addition, the process for entry QR codes has been simplified and upgraded to make it easier for users to operate. The questions asked have been reduced from the usual 20 to 10. Incoming Filipino passengers can now choose to fill out the electronic clearance before departure or when they arrive at their convenience.
It is reported that Marcos issued an executive order last month not to force people to wear masks outdoors. But the Philippine Ministry of Health believed that the mask order should continue to be implemented to prevent the spread of the virus. Frasco said that despite relaxing epidemic prevention policies and voluntary wearing of masks outdoors, the number of new crown cases in the Philippines has been showing a downward trend in the past few weeks.
Currently, most Southeast Asian countries have gradually relaxed mask-wearing and border control measures since the middle of this year. Except for Myanmar and Laos , most Southeast Asian countries no longer force people to wear masks outdoors and indoors.
Source: Lianhe Zaobao, Feilong.com, Philippine World Daily
Editor: Tan Qianyuan
