TRAVELERS to Cebu City who fail to present an S-PaSS or a negative RT-PCR test result are required to undergo home quarantine while waiting for their test results to come out.
City Councilor Joel Garganera, Emergency Operations Center (EOC) deputy chief implementer, said inbound travelers whose places of origin do not have the capacity to test will be swabbed upon their arrival in the city.
Last March, the EOC reinstalled its booth near Pier 1 for passengers entering the city through the seaports. The passengers coming in via the airport are obliged to report to their barangay of destination for monitoring.
Garganera said the EOC will coordinate with the barangays to monitor the individuals who must undergo home quarantine.
Requirements
Mayor Edgardo Labella issued an executive order (EO) on March 25, 2021, detailing the requirements that must be complied with by inbound travelers, and these include the negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result, a travel coordination permit (TCP) or Travel Pass Thru Permit that can be acquired through registering at the Safe, Swift, and Smart Passage (S-PaSS) Travel Management System of the Department of Science and Technology.
The TCP can be secured after filling out and uploading the necessary documents in the website https://s-pass.ph/.
Based on Labella’s executive order, the persons who are required to submit a negative RT-PCR test result are returning residents, private authorized persons outside of residence (Apor), non-Apor, tourists and persons traveling for humanitarian reasons (persons or groups conducting outreach activities).
The negative test result must be taken not more than 72 hours prior to arrival in Cebu City.
The government Apor on official business must present their official government identification card, mission or travel order, and they must make sure they have no symptoms of Covid-19 upon their arrival in Cebu City.
Checking travelers
The executive order also mandates that travelers must be checked for Covid-19 symptoms upon arrival. If the travelers manifest symptoms, a new RT-PCR test will be required.
The EO also requires all travelers, except for government Apor, to report to their receiving barangays for monitoring purposes.
Cebu City is one of the 83 local government units in the country that requires S-PaSS for travelers.
S-PaSS is an online travel management system and a unified platform for communicating travel policies and requirements, especially for travelers within the country, the EOC said.
The EOC reported that only 16 percent of the total inbound travelers in the month of April complied with the usage of S-PaSS.
Of the 2,426 passengers who were swabbed in April, 24 were found positive for Covid-19.
In previous reports, Labella chose to still implement these measures to ensure the safety of the Cebu City residents.
Cebu City is now under modified general community quarantine.
Based on the EOC data, the city’s remaining active Covid-19 cases as of May 4 were 558.
Its total confirmed cases reached 23,498 with 22,096 recoveries and 844 mortalities.
The city’s total positivity rate was 9.29 percent out of the 252,957 individuals tested. (JJL)