MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang on Tuesday clarified that the government has not issued an expanded travel restriction to cover more countries that have confirmed cases of a new novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) variant first reported in the United Kingdom.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the implementation of an expanded travel ban was “highly recommended” by the Department of Health (DOH) and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) but has yet to be approved by President Rodrigo Duterte.
He advised the public to wait for the guidelines from the Office of the President.
“Hintayin po natin ang desisyon ng president. Magpapalabas po ng something in writing ang Office of the President. Ang alam ko po highly recommended ng IATF at DOH yung travel bans sa mga bansang may new variants,” Roque said.
“Ang sabi po ng presidente, kinakailangan kahit sinong Pilipino na nais makauwi, dapat makauwi. Imposible po yan kung magkakaroon tayo ng travel ban,” he added.
The Philippines has suspended all inbound flights from the United Kingdom from December 24, 2020 until mid-January, 2021 amid reports on cases of new COVID-19 variant.
The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) earlier posted an advisory on its social media account, announcing the supposed expanded travel ban to include more countries effective midnight of December 29.
MIAA later took down its post but did not cite a reason for its removal. – RRD (with details from Correspondent Rosalie Coz)
The post No expanded travel ban yet amid cases of new COVID-19 variant, Palace clarifies appeared first on UNTV News.