The Philippine government has imposed a temporary travel ban against South Africa, Botswana, and its neighboring countries amid the fears of the new COVID-19 variant.
On Friday night, Cabinet secretary and acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles announced that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) decided to impose “heightened border control measures” to prevent the entry of the variant known as B.1.1.529, which is believed to have many mutations.
Other countries included in the temporary ban are countries adjacent to South Africa and Botswana, like Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Mozambique.
The travel ban would last until December 15, Nograles stated.
He added that the Bureau of Quarantine and local government units have been directed to trace travelers who may have come in the country in the last seven days for monitoring.
“The Bureau of Quarantine, in close coordination with our local government units, has been directed to locate travelers from the abovementioned countries who may have arrived in the recent 7 days prior to the temporary suspension of inbound travel,” he said.
“These travelers shall be required to undergo full 14-day facility-based quarantine with RT-PCR test on the 7th day or upon the location of the passenger, whichever is later, with the date of arrival as Day 1,” he added.
Passengers who have gone to the countries mentioned in the last 14 days are also barred from entering the Philippines, except if they are already in transit and arrive before 12:01 AM on November 28.
“Passengers already in transit from the abovementioned countries and all those who have been to the same within 14 days immediately preceding arrival to the Philippines, who arrive before 12:01 AM of November 28, 2021, shall not be barred from entry, but shall be required to undergo stricter quarantine and testing protocols such as the observation of an absolute facility-based 14-day quarantine period, notwithstanding a negative RT-PCR result,” Nograles said.
“Meanwhile, all passengers, whether Filipinos or foreigners, merely transiting through the abovementioned countries shall not be deemed as having come from or having been to the said country if they stayed in the airport the entire time and were not cleared for entry into such country by its immigration authorities,” he added.
