THE government is eyeing to further ease restrictions for travelers to help in the recovery of the aviation industry.

A study is being made to lessen the number of quarantine days for a person that will be put under quarantine, especially for the vaccinated people.

The proposal is being taken up at the technical level for consideration of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATFj in meetings this week or next week.

According to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the travel sector should have some kind of reopening by easing the travel restriction as many people get vaccinated.

Reducing the number of days for quarantine will help resuscitate demand for the travel sector. Apart from all the incentives they are all entitled to, fixing the demand is part of the equation, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said.

Current IATF protocol requires fully vaccinated travelers to undergo quarantine for seven days and get tested on the fifth day.

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When I caught COVID-19 and got hospitalized for it, I realized the importance of health insurance coverage.

While Philhealth helps a lot, getting more insurance coverage can bring more assistance to a COVID-19 victim.

It’s not surprising there’s an increasing people’s interest in getting protection products, especially during the pandemic.

And an expert from the industry believes such rising trend can help buoy the sector during these challenging times.

Insurance take-up is increasing and sentiments support this based on surveys and research, said Pru Life UK senior vice president and chief customer marketing officer Allan Tumbaga.

“If you look at it now, the insurance industry is growing. It may not be very fast like before but what we see is that given the pandemic, given all the restrictions we have now, people are still getting insurance,” he said.

One interesting result of the surveys is the increased interest especially of young people to purchase insurance products.

The pandemic has shown that anything can happen to a person because nothing is expected. It’s better to be prepared always. This is one of the reasons for the insurance sector’s optimism for growth.

“I foresee that insurance sales will continue, the insurance industry will prosper, and everyone will be more protected and they will be more confident looking forward to the future,” he said.

Insurance claims rose since the pandemic hit last year but Tumbaga declined to give any figures.

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