The Philippines has extended anew the travel ban imposed on Sri Lanka and 09 other countries until Sept. 5 as a precautionary measure against the Delta variant of COVID-19, the Manila Bulletin reported on Tuesday (August 31).
In an official statement, Filipino Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque announced that President Rodrigo Duterte had approved the recommendation from the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to further extend the current travel restrictions on India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Under the travel ban – which will be extended starting tomorrow (Sept. 01) up to Sunday (Sept. 05) – arriving passengers from the aforementioned countries or with a travel history to those nations within the last 14 days will be barred from entering the Philippines.
They would then be sent back to their port of origin on the next available flight, the Manila Bulletin reported.
“These travel restrictions form part of the pro-active measures to slow down the rising number of COVID-19 cases, stop further spread of variants, and increase the country’s existing healthcare capacity,” Filipino Presidential Spokesperson has said.
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is expected to enforce the directive, the Manila Bulletin reported.
Earlier this month, the Philippines extended the travel restrictions from Aug. 16 to Aug. 31 after taking into consideration the concerns posed by the Delta variant.
The travel ban first came into effect on April 27. It was rolled over several times and expanded to include Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the UAE, Oman, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. – ada derana
