US advises against travel to Philippines amid COVID-19 spike

The US State Department has advised against travel to the Philippines due to the high number of COVID-19 cases in the country.

In an advisory on April 20, the State Department raised alert level 4 for the Philippines, which has been grappling with the spike in infections and deaths in recent months that led to the re-imposition of stricter quarantine protocols in the capital and surrounding areas until April 30. 

"Do not travel to the Philippines due to COVID-19,” it said.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 4 Travel Health Notice for the Philippines due to COVID-19, indicating a very high level of COVID-19 in the country," it added.

Level 4 is the highest travel warning category of the State Department.

The US State Department said earlier this week that it will boost its "Do Not Travel" guidance to about 80% of countries worldwide, citing "unprecedented risk to travelers" from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The State Department already listed 34 out of about 200 countries as "Level 4: Do Not Travel," including places like Chad, Kosovo, Kenya, Brazil, Argentina, Haiti, Mozambique, Russia and Tanzania. Getting to 80% would imply adding nearly 130 countries.

[Click here for list of countries with US travel advisories]

Most Americans were already prevented from traveling to much of Europe because of COVID-19 restrictions. Washington has barred nearly all non-US citizens who have recently been in most of Europe, China, Brazil, Iran and South Africa.

The US government also noted that there are restrictions in place affecting the entry of US citizens into the Philippines.

The Philippines on Tuesday, April 20, 2021, registered 7,379 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total tally to 953,106. This was the lowest caseload reported by the Department of Health (DOH) in 13 days, since the 6,414 cases logged on April 7.

The DOH said this brought the total active cases in the country to 127,006, of which 96.9% are mild, 1.3% are asymptomatic, 0.6% are critical, and 0.7% are in severe condition.

Meanwhile, the total number of recoveries also rose to 809,959 after 21,664 more patients recovered from the respiratory illness.

The death roll climbed to 16,141 with 93 new fatalities.

Security concerns

In the same advisory, the State Department also warned Americans in the country to “exercise increased caution due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, and kidnapping.”

Travel to Sulu Archipelago, including the southern Sulu Sea, due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, and kidnapping, is also discouraged.

Americans are also warned against traveling to Marawi City in Mindanao due to terrorism and civil unrest.

They should also reconsider going to other areas of Mindanao.

It also said that terrorist and armed groups “continue plotting possible kidnappings, bombings, and other attacks in the Philippines.” “Terrorist and armed groups may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, markets/shopping malls, and local government facilities,” the State Department said.

“The Philippine government has declared a “State of National Emergency on Account of Lawless Violence in Mindanao.”  --KBK, GMA News