Negros Oriental postponed the lifting of Covid-19 testing for inbound travelers after the National Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) extended placing the province under Alert Level 4.
Bimbo Miraflor, spokesperson of the provincial government, said they have postponed easing travel requirements due to rising Covid-19 cases and deaths in recent weeks.
Miraflor said they were supposed to start on Nov. 1 but the IATF extended the Alert Level 4 status of the province until Nov. 15.
He said Gov. Roel Degamo pushed for easing of travel restriction to unburden travelers planning to go home to Negros Oriental for the holidays.
The provincial IATF also appealed for national IATF to reconsider placing Negros Oriental under Alert Level 4.
As of October 30, Negros Oriental has the highest number of active Covid-19 cases of 2,603.
Meanwhile, Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia on Friday further eased travel requirements by only requiring domestic inbound travelers their vaccination card or certificate upon arrival.
On Oct. 1, Garcia no longer required travelers to present any negative Covid-19 test results but only asked for a medical certificate.
The Cebu Provincial Capital however clarified that all international inbound travelers are still subjected to the national government policies. This includes Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and returning Overseas Filipinos (ROFs).– Ryan Sorote