Philippines extends travel ban on flights from UAE, India, Pakistan till August 15

Gulf Today Report

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Faced with a surge in coronavirus cases, the Philippines government of Rodrigo Duterte is taking no chances. The Delta variant appears to have goaded the administration into intensifying its crackdown on the pandemic. As part of measures to combat the spread of the variant, the authorities have extended an ongoing travel ban on all inbound travellers from the UAE, India and Pakistan and six other nations from August 1 to 15. This was revealed by presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.

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In a statement, Roque said President Duterte had okayed the travel ban extension to curb the further spread of Covid-19 variants in the Philippines, reports Xinhua news agency.

President Rodrigo Duterte speaks during an event. File photo

However, overseas Filipino workers are allowed to return under the Philippine repatriation programme, but they will be isolated for 14 days upon arrival, according to Indo-Asian News Service.

On Thursday, the Health Department said that it detected nearly 100 new Delta variant cases.

The new cases have pushed the overall Delta infection tally to 216.

At least eight Delta patients have perished.

The Philippines has reported a total of 1,572,287 confirmed Covid cases, with 27,577 deaths.