Philippines to lift travel ban on 10 countries

Amid Covid surge, the Philippines has decided to lift the travel ban for all inbound travellers from 10 countries, including India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), from September 6. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Saturday that  the ban, put in place in April then expanded to more countries in July to prevent the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, will be lifted on Monday.

Roque said that travellers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the UAE, Oman, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia- will have to spend 14 days in quarantine upon arrival. "International travellers coming from the above-mentioned countries shall, however, comply with the appropriate entry, testing, and quarantine protocols," Roque said in a statement. However, foreign tourists are still banned from entering the country except for holders of special visas such as diplomats and foreign spouses of Filipino citizens.

The Philippines is grappling with soaring Covid-19 infections and has reported 2,040,568 Covid-19 cases, including 33,873 deaths, as of Friday. According to the Philippines' department of health, there were 20,310 new Covid-19 infections on Friday. Data shows that the caseload is the second-highest single-day tally since the coronavirus pandemic began in January last year. Health undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire has warned that the number of Covid-19 cases will continue to rise due to the spread of the Delta and other coronavirus variants. She also said that local governments have imposed granular lockdown in Metro Manila and other areas across the country with virus clusters to contain the spread of Covid-19.