By Jun Ramirez  Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Friday said it will no longer allow Filipino tourists bound for the island tourist destination of Jeju, South Korea, to leave in the wake of the 2019-novel coronavirus outbreak. (MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO) BI port operations division chief Grifton Medina said the new travel ban policy was implemented after the Korean embassy in Manila informed the bureau last Monday that it was temporarily suspending the visa-free entry of Filipino tourists to Jeju. “We have already instructed our immigration officers not to allow the departure of any Filipino bound for Jeju unless the passenger was issued a visa by the Korean embassy,” Medina said. The embassy announced the suspension a day after health authorities confirmed the first reported death outside China of an Ncov patient at the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila. It was learned, however, that the suspension of visa-free entry privileges to Jeju applies not only to Filipinos but to all foreign tourists as well. Meanwhile, Medina said that almost 300 foreigners were already turned back at the airports as a result of the travel ban imposed on travelers directly arriving from China, Macau and Hongkong. “This does not include the ones that did not deplane and reach immigration during the first day of implementation,” said Medina. Nonetheless, Medina said the BI expects a sharp drop in the number of passengers covered by the ban due to the voluntary suspension by the airlines of their flights to and from the Philippines and the said three destinations. He added that he already asked the different airlines to screen Manila-bound passengers at the port of origin and disallow the boarding of those who have traveled to China, Macau, and Hongkong for the past 14 days. Read more: Jeju Island suspends visa-free entry policy due to coronavirus threat