Health and safety of the community is a priority.
The local government of Baguio will require negative result of Coronavirus disease diagnostic test for all travellers entering the Summer Capital beginning October 3, 2020 and until necessity requires.
Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong issued this advisory “to mitigate and contain any further outbreak of COVID cases and to allow our law enforcement and medical front liners time to regroup their work force as we set out plans for the coming months.”
The mayor said requiring Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) or rapid antigen test is an additional safety measure aside from the online registration and triage requirements to ensure travellers entering Baguio are COVID-free.
The following travellers shall be guided to submit themselves for Covid-19 diagnostic testing: government officials and government frontline personnel who are not assigned to the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba and Tublay (BLISTT) area; duly authorized humanitarian assistance actors and persons travelling for humanitarian, or medical reasons – their companions included; persons with indispensable or work related; one-time transactions or whose travel purposes do not require regular or frequent entry to the city.
The above-mentioned sectors are required to present negative results of RT-PCR or rapid antigen tests conducted within a period of 72 hours prior to their entry into the city, or they shall submit themselves for testing at the Central Triage and Testing Center located at the Baguio Convention Center.
In a press conference Thursday, Magalong clarified that counting of 72hours is from the time of the swab test. If the person was able to enter Baguio beyond 72 hours from testing, he/she has to undergo another diagnostic test at the Central Triage.
Repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and Filipinos returning from abroad shall still follow the procedures as set by the Overseas Workers Welfare Authority (OWWA) and the Department of Tourism.
Entry of domestic tourists shall be governed by the implementing guidelines of the Ridge and Reef Travel Corridor project, the details of which are incorporated in their registration through the V.I.S.I.T.A website.
For returning Baguio residents, employees coming into the city for the first time since the implementation of the enhance community quarantine and non-resident students, they may opt to undergo 14-day quarantine under the supervision of their Barangay officials as an alternative to RT-PCR or rapid antigen testing.
Persons with indispensable or work-related travel purposes regularly passing through Baguio City checkpoints, who are holders of COVID Shield Travel Authority documents (with Inter-Region Work Clearance Certificates attached) or official travel orders as issued by their respective offices shall be required to submit themselves for RT-PCR or rapid antigen testing once a month.
All travellers are reminded that registration of Health Declaration Forms through hdf.baguio.gov.ph and triage protocols are still being required, with the exception of domestic tourists who shall register their necessary documents and itineraries at visita.baguio.gov.ph. – Jessa Samidan