MANILA – The Philippines has lifted the travel ban to mainland China except Hubei province, the epicenter of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.
DFA said the lifting of the ban in China was adopted in a resolution of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Diseases last week.
However, the DFA said that not all are covered by the travel ban lifting as only allowed to travel are the following:
1. Returning OFWs who are able to present valid visas and/or work permits, overseas employment certificate, notarized and other relevant documents pertaining to their current employment in mainland China as may be required by immigration authorities;
2. Filipinos with permanent resident visas; and
3. Filipino government officials traveling to mainland China on official duty
Those who were excluded from the lifting of travel ban were OFWs on first-time deployment to mainland China, students, dependents of OFWs and tourists.
The coronavirus disease outbreak in China had prompted the Philippine government on February 2 to impose a travel ban on mainland China and its special administrative regions Hong Kong and Macau.
The Philippines later removed the travel ban for Filipino overseas workers, students and permanent residents bound for Hong Kong and Macau./PN
