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Philippines bans travel to 9 countries from Sept. 12 to 18


President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday approved the imposition of travel ban on nine countries classified as the "red list," his spokesperson Harry Roque said.

The countries are Azerbaijan, Guadeloupe, Guam, Israel, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Saint Lucia, and Switzerland.

The Inter Agency Task Force  (IATF) classified “red list” countries as “high risk” based on the following:

  • For populations greater than 100,000 the incidence rate shall be more than 500
  • For populations less than 100,000, the COVID-19 case counts shall be more than 500

Roque said that all passengers coming from or who have been to the nine red list countries within 14 days immediately preceding arrival in the Philippines shall be prohibited from entering the country effective 12 noon of September 12, 2021 until 11:59 p.m. of September 18, 2021.

Returning Filipinos through government-initiated or non-government repatriation programs and special commercial flights allowed under existing IATF resolutions are exempted from this restriction.

All passengers who have been to the nine countries within 14 days immediately preceding arrival in the Philippines, who arriving before 12 noon of September 12, 2021, shall be allowed to enter the country. 

However, they shall be required to undergo a 14-day quarantine period, where the first 10 days shall be at a quarantine facility and the remaining days under home quarantine in their respective local government units of destination.

They will undergo RT-PCR testing on the seventh day with the day of arrival as Day 1.  Meanwhile, arriving passengers shall complete a 10-day facility-based quarantine, notwithstanding a negative test result.

In the case of Filipino or foreign passengers who merely transited through any of the abovementioned countries, they shall not be considered as having come or having been to the said country, provided they stayed in the airport the whole time and were not cleared for entry by immigration authorities, the Palace said. —LDF, GMA News

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