City Hall of Zamboanga (PNA file photo)
ZAMBOANGA CITY – This city will remain under Alert Level 3 from February 16 to 28, the local Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) announced Tuesday.
Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar, the chairperson of the local IATF-EID, said the order is pursuant to national IATF-EID Resolution 161-A dated February 14.
This came about despite the recommendation of the local IATF-EID to downgrade the alert status of the city to Level 2 effective February 16.
The national IATF-EID placed all other areas in the Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9) under Alert Level 2.
As announced earlier, Salazar said the lifting of the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test requirement for fully vaccinated inbound travelers will take effect on February 16 until further notice.
In place of the RT-PCR requirement, inbound travelers shall present their vaccination card and Safe, Swift, and Smart Passage (S-Pass) permit upon entry at all borders of this city.
An individual is considered fully vaccinated 14 days after the second jab for two-dose vaccines, and single-dose for the Janssen vaccine.
However, the mayor said fully vaccinated travelers coming in from areas with higher alert level status are required to present negative antigen test results secured from any Department of Health-accredited laboratory within 24 hours from the time of collection of specimen.
She added that unvaccinated travelers must submit negative RT-PCR test results taken from the place of origin within 120 hours or five days from specimen collection. (PNA)
