EFFECTIVE Wednesday, January 12, Zamboanga City will re-impose the Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test requirement for inbound travelers regardless of vaccination status due to the threat posed by the Omicron variant.
Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar, who chairs the local Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), said the requirement will be applied to inbound travelers, especially coming from areas with higher alert level status than that of the city.
Zamboanga City is under Alert Level 2 based on Resolution 151-C of the national IATF-EID dated November 29, 2021.
The following are the specific requirements for fully vaccinated travelers from areas with higher alert level status: valid identification card (ID) with authentic vaccine card; authentic negative RT-PCR test result within five days from date of specimen collection or authentic negative Rapid Antigen Test from Department of Health (DOH)-accredited facility 24 hours from date of specimen collection; and Safe, Swift and Smart Pass (S-Pass) application.
For fully vaccinated travelers coming from areas with the same or lower alert level status, the requirements are: valid ID with authentic vaccine card; and, S-Pass application.
Non-vaccinated individuals or those who have not achieved fully vaccinated status are required to present a valid ID, authentic negative RT-PCR test result within five days from date of specimen collection and must be taken at the point of origin, and S-Pass application.
Salazar said all the requirements should be presented to the border personnel upon arrival. (SunStar Zamboanga)