Inbound travelers from Malaysia and Thailand would no longer be allowed to enter the country until the end of the month.
President Duterte has approved the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) on Thursday to impose travel restrictions due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in the two Southeast Asian countries.
“This action is undertaken to prevent the further spread and community transmission of Covid-19 variants in the Philippines.” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said in a news statement issued on Friday.
The surge in infection in Malaysia and Thailand is being blamed to the Delta variant of the Covid-causing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
Roque said the new restriction would cover all travelers coming from Malaysia and Thailand or those with travel history in both countries within the last 14 days preceding arrival in the Philippines.
He said the new policy would take effect from 12:01 a.m. of July 25, 2021 until 11:59 p.m. of July 31, 2021.
Roque said travelers, who are already in transit from Thailand and Malaysia prior to the travel restriction before July 25, 2021, would still be allowed to enter the county.
However, he said these travelers would still be required to undergo full 14-day facility quarantine, notwithstanding a negative Reverse Transcription – Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) result.
The Palace official reiterated that travel restriction would not cover the repatriation and special commercial flights for Filipinos.
Aside from Thailand and Malaysia, the government also imposed similar travel restrictions in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Indonesia due to the presence of the Delta variant in the said countries.
Health experts said the Delta variant is more infectious compared to the regular SARS-CoV-2 and its other variants.
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