PH temporarily bans travelers from Indonesia

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Image by Fariz Priandana from Pixabay
  • Travelers from Indonesia are prohibited from entering the Philippines from July 16 to 31 to prevent further spread of COVID-19 variants in the country
  • Passengers already in transit from Indonesia, and all those who have been to the country within 14 days immediately preceding arrival to the Philippines, may be allowed entry into the country but will be required to undergo a 14-day quarantine despite a negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction result
  • Indonesia is suffering from a surge in COVID-19 cases due to the highly transmissible Delta variant
  • Indonesia joins India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, and Oman, where a travel ban has been extended until July 31

Travelers from Indonesia are prohibited from entering the Philippines from July 16 to July 31, 2021 to prevent the further spread and community transmission of COVID-19 variants in the country.

In a statement, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque announced that President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the recommendation to include the Southeast Asian country in the list of countries currently withtravel restrictions.

The list includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, and Oman, where a travel ban has been extended until July 31.

Passengers already in transit from Indonesia, and all those who have been to the same within 14 days immediately preceding arrival to the Philippines, who arrive before 12:01 a.m.of July 16, 2021, may still be allowed to enter the country but will be required to undergo a full 14-day facility quarantine despitea negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction result.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has recommended a travel ban on Indonesia, which has been experiencing a massive spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths.

As of July 14, Indonesia has reported a total of 2.67 million infections and 69,210 deaths. Officials said the highly transmissible Delta variant of the virus is responsible for more than 90% of recent cases.

In the Philippines, a total of 19 cases of the Delta variant, which was first detected in India, has so far been reported.

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