The Philippines government announced a ban on travelers from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 variant from India.
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea on Wednesday said the ban will be effective from May 7 to 14.
In a memorandum, he said passengers coming from or who have been to the aforementioned countries within 14 days immediately preceding arrival in the Philippines, shall be prohibited from entering the country.
Meanwhile, effective immediately, passengers coming from or who have been to the four countries within 14 days and are arriving before the travel ban, shall undergo facility-based quarantine for 14 days notwithstanding a negative RT-PCR test.
Passengers merely transiting the countries will not be subjected to the procedures as long as they stayed in the airport the whole time and were not cleared for entry into those countries by immigration. They also do not need to be quarantined for 14 days once they arrive in the Philippines, the memorandum added.
The Philippines government blocked visitors from India last month over the surge of COVID-19 cases that has devastated the South Asian country. The variant first detected in India has not yet been found in the Philippines.
Source: CNN Philippines
