Impose ban on UK travellers, senators urge gov't
Senators on Tuesday called on the Philippine government to immediately impose a travel ban from travelers in the United Kingdom to prevent the new strain of coronavirus from reaching the country's shores.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said the Department of Health (DOH) "should act decisively and not procrastinate" to stem the possible spread of the coronavirus strain that has been discovered in the UK.
"Recall that in February, DOH did not immediately ban travels from China, which directly caused the deadly local transmission of COVID-19," Drilon noted.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto agreed with the imposition of the travel ban. "We must do everything to ensure the safety and protection of our people," he said in separate text message.
"Yes...we should act quickly and temporarily ban travelers from Europe. This is to ensure the new strain doesn’t spread here," Sen. Joel Villanueva also told reporters.
Echoing her colleagues, Sen. Grace Poe said "considering tightening our borders will be for the good of nations concerned to contain the infection."
"It's the vaccine that should be spreading across borders, not the virus," she pointed out.
In a separate statement, Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. called on the National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 to also implement measures to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus variant in the Philippines.
"Napakalaking dagok na ng COVID, at kung kailan nakakakita na tayo ng liwanag, baka panibagong problema na naman ang kaharapin natin (COVID-19 has been a huge challenge, and we are already seeing the light out of it, but we might face another problem if we let this into our country)," Revilla said.
"It would be unacceptable if the NTF does nothing and simply allow this new strain to spread among our kababayans (countrymen)," he stressed.
Several countries have already shut their borders on travelers from the UK following the discovery of the new coronavirus variant, identified as "B.1.1.7".
Scientists were alarmed as they found that it has over 20 mutations and spreads faster than the existing coronavirus strains. There were reports that it has already been detected in Australia, Netherlands, and Denmark.
COVID-19 has infected 77.3 million and killed over 1.7 million worldwide to date, based on the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
In the Philippines, a total of 461,505 COVID-19 cases have been recorded as of December 21, 2020, with 23,341 active cases remaining. A total of 8,957 deaths were recorded in the country.