COVID: Philippines to lift travel ban on India, 9 other countries from September 6

The Philippines government has decided to lift the travel ban, from September 6, for all the visitors who will arrive from India and nine other countries, despite the growing COVID-19 cases caused by the extremely infectious Delta variant, said the presidential spokesman Harry Roque on Saturday. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the inter-agency COVID-19 task force's proposal to lift the restrictions on travel from countries including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, reports ANI.

Travellers to comply with appropriate COVID protocols

In a statement, Roque said, "International travellers coming from the above-mentioned countries shall, however, comply with the appropriate entry, testing, and quarantine protocols," as per ANI. Yet, on the other hand, foreign visitors are still forbidden to enter the nation, with the exception of diplomats and foreign partners of Filipino residents who have special visas. The Delta strain of COVID 19 has transmitted locally to within the population of the Philippines. There have been 1,789 Delta recorded cases in the nation, with 33 fatalities. The World Health Organization validated the Delta variant's communal spreading, stating that it is currently the main COVID-19 strain expanding in the Philippines. 

The Philippines placed a ban on India in April, which was then extended to the nine other nations that had Delta cases. COVID-19 infections are currently on the rise in the Philippines, in the last 24 hours the nation recorded more than 20,000 new cases. Whereas, the total number of cases on Friday was recorded as 2,040,568 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 33,873 fatalities.  

Coronavirus situation in Philippines

Due to an increase in the cases of Delta and other variants in the Philippines, public health official Maria Rosario Vergeire recently cautioned that the Covid-19 cases would continue to grow. She further claimed that local governments had enforced particulate lockdowns in the city of Manila and other virus-infected regions across the nation to stop the spread of Covid-19 infection. 

With the increase in cases, the Philippines government has chosen to extend the level-2 lockdown in its capital city of Manila beyond August 31. Although Manila will continue to be under the strict community lockdown, while, other regions will be under lockdown until September 7, according to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque. This statement was issued in the wake of a new rise in delta-variant infections in the nation.

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