MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) has located five more travelers from South Africa who have been tagged as “missing”, a health official confirmed on Friday.
“We have already located another five, so we are just trying to locate two of these travelers,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a Viber message to reporters.
The newly identified Omicron variant of the coronavirus was initially detected in South Africa, imposing travel restrictions again around the world.
Many countries, including the Philippines, have closed their borders to countries where Omicron cases have been reported.
The unlocated passengers are among the 253 people who arrived in the country between November 15 and November 29, according to the DOH.
They are all returning overseas Filipinos who were unable to be located because some provided their agency’s contact numbers and not their personal numbers. Others gave either incorrect or incomplete contact numbers.
The DOH is still in contact with local government units, Bureau of Quarantine, and the Philippine National Police in order to track down more travelers and prevent the Omicron variant from entering the country.
