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Duterte wants shorter quarantine for arriving travelers, says hotel accommodations not cheap

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ABS-CBN News

<h3>IATF finalizing shorter quarantine for fully vaccinated people</h3><p>MANILA—President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday questioned the current quarantine rule for arriving travelers to the Philippines, citing costs associated with quarantine accommodations at hotels.</p><p>Duterte said the current period of 10 to 14 days should be cut down to 7 days, since it will only take that long for symptoms to manifest.</p><p>&quot;If you can talk to the task force, is it really demanded of the moment and is it really a compelling thing that you complete the 10-day detention?&quot; Duterte said in a taped public address.</p><p>&quot;Pero kung totoo &#x27;yan, 7 days na lang. Kasi kung magpasok &#x27;yan, it will manifest sa katawan mo within 7 days . . .Talagang lalabas yan.&quot;<br/> <br/>(If that is true, then we only need 7 days. Because if you get infected, it will manifest within 7 days. It will show.)</p><p>Interior Sec. Eduardo Año said rules are being finalized to shorten the quarantine period for fully vaccinated people to 5 to 7 days.</p><p>&quot;Fina-finalize na lang po namin ito. Magiging 5 to 7 days na lang ang quarantine period sa mga vaccinated po,&quot; Año said in the same briefing.</p><p>(We are just finalizing this, but the quarantine period for those who are vaccinated will only be 5 to 7 days.)</p><p>Duterte said the existing quarantine has burdened government, which must pay the hotels used as quarantine facilities.</p><p>&quot;Pati &#x27;yung utang natin. Kasi &#x27;yung mga hotel na ginagamit natin, maganda. Manila Hotel, Diamond Hotel. Hindi ito basta-basta,&quot; he said.</p><p>(Also our debts are adding up, because we are using upscale hotels. Manila Hotel, Diamond Hotel are not just cheap.)</p><p>As of Thursday, the Philippines has a total of 2,549,966, COVID-19 cases, with 138,294 active cases, 38,294 deaths and 2,373,379 recoveries.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/30/21/philippines-logs-14286-new-covid-19-cases">PH reports 14,286 more COVID-19 cases as DOH notes decline in testing output</a></li></ul><p>The Philippines was at the bottom of Bloomberg’s COVID Resilience Ranking among 53 countries this month, based on 12 data points related to virus containment, the economy, and reopening.</p><p>Bloomberg said the Philippines only had a vaccine coverage rate of 20 percent, among the lowest of those ranked. It is also &quot;engaged in one of the most stringent lockdowns&quot; and its borders remain sealed to visitors.</p><p>The country &quot;underperforms, too,&quot; on COVID-19 containment, and &quot;had the second-worst positive test rate&quot; in the ranking at 27 percent, only better than Mexico, said Bloomberg.</p><p>Malacañang, meanwhile, said the survey did not rate all countries in the world. </p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1785321" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

Interior Sec. Eduardo Año said rules are being finalized to shorten the quarantine period for fully vaccinated people to 5 to 7 days.