Philippines extends travel ban

MANILA: The Philippines has extended until January 31, 2021 the travel restrictions on foreign travelers from over 30 countries to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus variant.

In a statement Friday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the extension was approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) on Thursday.

Covered by the travel restriction are travellers from the following countries: United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Australia, Israel, The Netherlands, China (including Hong Kong), Switzerland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Lebanon, Singapore, Sweden, South Korea, South Africa, Canada, Spain, United States, Portugal, India, Finland, Norway, Jordan, Brazil, Austria, Pakistan, Jamaica, Luxembourg and Oman. The entry ban was supposed to expire on Friday.

The government first imposed the travel restrictions last December 24 covering only the UK, where the more transmissible variant was initially detected. It was then expanded to other countries.

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Filipino citizens will be allowed to enter the Philippines as long as they undergo screening for Covid-19 and facility-based quarantine for 14 days.

The UK variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 was recently detected on a Filipino who travelled to the United Arab Emirates last month and returned to the country on January 7.

Given this development, Malacañang on Thursday urged the public to continue observing the minimum health standards such as wearing face masks and physical distancing.

Roque, meanwhile, said it would be President Rodrigo Duterte who will decide whether to add UAE to the list of countries covered by travel curbs.

“The President will be the one to declare that, if ever. [The] list is for extension of restrictions and not for new,” he said.

In a resolution, the IATF also strengthened the contact tracing protocols by expanding this to third generation close contacts for known new variant cases.

All identified close contacts are required to undergo facility-based 14-day quarantine while remaining contacts from the flight manifest should be advised of the appropriate quarantine protocols. Samples from travellers found to be positive for Covid-19 should undergo whole genome sequencing to determine the variant.

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The IATF also approved the continuation of weekly genomic biosurveillance activities of the Department of Health, Philippine Genome Centre, and the University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health among incoming passengers and local cases, prioritising hospitalised patients, re-infected patients, and those in clusters.

The task force directed the Department of the Interior and Local Government to issue the necessary advisories to local government units for the preparation, strengthening, and maintenance of their quarantine facilities and contact tracing efforts.

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