- Passengers coming from or who have been from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka are prohibited from entering the Philippines from May 7 to 14 to prevent the entry of the COVID-19 variant first reported in India
- Also prohibited are those who have traveled to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka within the last 14 days preceding arrival
- Passengers who have been to the four South Asian countries within 14 days immediately preceding arrival to the Philippines and who will arrive before 1 a.m. of May 7 will not be subject to the restriction
- Filipinos and foreign passengers merely transiting through Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and India will not be deemed to have come from these countries provided they stayed in the airport the whole time and were not cleared for entry into these countries by their immigration authorities
Passengers coming from or who have been from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka are prohibited from entering the Philippines starting May 7 until May 14 to prevent the entry of the COVID-19 variant first reported in India.
Also prohibited are those who have a travel history to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka within the last 14 days preceding arrival, according to a memorandum from Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea dated May 5.
Passengers who have been to the four South Asian countries within 14 days immediately preceding arrival to the Philippines and who will arrive before 1 a.m. of May 7 will not be subject to the restriction.
However, they are required to undergo stricter quarantine and testing protocols such as observing an absolute facility-based 14-day quarantine period despite a negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) result.
Filipinos and foreign passengers merely transiting through Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and India will not be deemed to have come from these countries provided they stayed in the airport the whole time and were not cleared for entry into these countries by their immigration authorities. Upon arrival to the country, they will not be required to undergo 14-day quarantine but will have to comply with testing and quarantine protocols set by the government.
The travel ban on the four South Asian countries was jointly recommended by the Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Foreign Affairs relative to SARS-COV-2 B.1.617, the COVID-19 variant first reported in India.
Earlier, the Philippines also imposed a ban on travelers from India that started April 29 and will last until May 14. India has recently been posting an average of 300,000 daily COVID-19 cases, the highest in the world, and the country already accounts for 46% of total global cases, according to a weekly report by the World Health Organization.
READ: India travelers barred from PH from April 29 to May 14
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases may provide rules and regulations to implement the May 5 memo and all other related directives, “which may include reasonable exemptions to the entry restrictions and protocols” in relation to SARS-COV-2 B.1.617 variant.
