DOH: Temporary ban on travelers from India covers Filipinos, too

The temporary ban that the Philippines imposed on travelers from India also covers Filipinos living there, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Wednesday.

The ban will take effect at 12:01 a.m. on April 29 and end on May 14. Travelers who are already in transit and those who will arrive in the Philippines before Thursday are exempted. 

“Napag-desisyunan (It was decided) that even our fellow Filipinos, hindi muna natin papapasukin (will not be allowed entry) for this temporary period,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online briefing.

“This is just so that we can be able to ensure na ma-guard natin ‘yung borders natin (that our borders will be protected),” she added.

The Philippines joined several countries that have imposed restrictions on travelers from India, which is battling a surge in COVID-19 infections that has overwhelmed its healthcare system. 

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is now preparing for the implementation of restrictions for persons traveling from India.

“We are conducting a 100% passport inspection to determine the travel history of an arriving person,” BI port operations division acting chief Carlos Capulong said Wednesday.

“If we see that the traveler has been to India within the last 14 days, then he will be excluded and boarded on the next available flight back to his port of origin,” he added.

The BI official said the travel ban is not “nationality-specific” and applies to any traveler coming from India.

'Double variant'

Experts fear that B.1.617, a new coronavirus variant described as a “double mutant,” is contributing to the spike in cases in India. It has been reportedly found in at least 17 countries.

Vergeire said the Philippine government decided to tighten border control to prevent the entry of the new variant.

“Mag-iingat tayo kasi nakikita na natin ‘yung nangyayari sa kanila at ayaw na natin na magkaroon pa ng enabler ang ibang variants na pumasok dito sa ating bansa para makapag-cause pa ng further transmission ng sakit,” she said.

(We are being cautious because we have seen what is happening in India and we don’t want to enable other variants to enter our country and cause further transmission of COVID-19.)

The DOH also called on the public to continue adhering to public health protocols to protect themselves from the virus.

The Philippines has so far detected 659 B.1.1.7 (United Kingdom) variant cases, 695 B.1.351 (South Africa) variant cases, 2 P.1 (Brazil) variant cases, and 148 cases of the P.3 variant first detected in Central Visayas.

The explosion in infections in India — 350,000 new cases were recorded there on Tuesday alone — has driven a surge in global cases to 147.7 million. The virus has now killed more than 3.1 million people worldwide.  —KBK, GMA News