MANILA – Foreign travelers from China and four other territories are now banned from entering the Philippines following cases of new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) variant there.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque in Tuesday’s virtual presser said aside from China, also included in the travel restrictions are Pakistan, Jamaica, Oman, and Luxembourg.
The expanded travel restrictions will apply to the said areas effective 12:01 noon of Jan. 13 until Jan. 15, 2021, the Palace spokesperson added.
“Filipinos coming from these territories can still come home, but subject to the absolute 14-day quarantine, kahit ano man po ang resulta ng kanilang PCR test,” Roque said.
With this addition, the ban now covers 33 jurisdictions, also including Austria, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, Portugal, India, Finland, Norway, Jordan, and Brazil.
There are no restrictions on outbound travel, but that would depend on the rules of country destinations, authorities noted.
The Department of Health said the Philippines has not yet detected a case of the UK variant, which British scientists named “VUI – 202012/01.”
The new variant includes a genetic mutation in the “spike” protein, which could theoretically result in easier spread of COVID-19./PN
