The Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced further expansion of the travel restrictions to include five more countries starting midnight of January 13.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said they received an order from Malacañang that foreign passengers coming from Pakistan, Jamaica, Luxembourg, Oman, and the People’s Republic of China shall not be allowed to enter the country.
In view of the expanded travel restrictions, foreigners coming from or have been to the five countries within 14 days from their arrival in the Philippines shall be excluded.
“Filipinos will still be allowed entry, subject to a 14-day quarantine, to be implemented by the airport’s one stop shop,” said Morente.
The added restrictions brought the total number of restricted countries to 33.
Earlier, the government imposed a travel ban on travelers from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Australia, Israel, The Netherlands, Hong Kong SAR, Switzerland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Lebanon, Singapore, Sweden, South Korea, South Africa, Canada, Spain, and the United States.
Later included were Portugal, India, Finland, Norway, Jordan, Brazil, and Austria.
Morente said The travel restriction for aliens arriving from these countries will last until January 15, unless extended by Malacanang, or the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases,” said Morente.