TRAVELERS who visited India in the last 14 days will no longer be allowed to enter the country starting Thursday (April 29).
This after President approved on Tuesday the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to impose the measure to prevent the possible entry of the virulent variant of Covid-19, B.1.617, which was first reported in India.
While there are no direct flights between Manila and India, calls had mounted for a ban on travelers from the South Asian country as Covid cases have spiked, with new daily cases in the hundreds of thousands, and hospitals unable to cope with the surge. Makeshift crematoriums have sprung up as the fatalities pile up.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Philippine ambassador to India reported that two Filipinos were among the Covid deaths.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the travel prohibition will take effect from April 29, 2021 to May 14, 2021.
“Passengers already in transit from the abovementioned country and all those who have been to the same within 14 days immediately preceding arrival to the Philippines, who arrive before 0001H of April 29, 2021, shall not be subject to the above restriction, but shall nevertheless be required to undergo stricter quarantine and testing protocols,” Roque said.
Such strict protocols include fourteen-day quarantine period notwithstanding a negative Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) result.
Roque said a similar travel ban may also be imposed in other countries, where B.1.617 will be detected, upon recommendation of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Department of Health (DOH).
Only travelers who will be included in the government’s repatriation efforts will be exempted from the said travel ban.
The government adopted the precaution after Indian medical experts linked the sudden spike in Covid-19 cases in India last month to the spread of B.1.617.
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