Malacañang said the government is looking into banning travelers from India due to the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) variant that was first detected in the said country.

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque made the statement after the so-called "double mutant" B.1.617 variant of COVID-19 was said to be behind the 300,000 fresh infections in the country on Thursday last week

In his press briefing on Monday, Roque said the Philippines is studying imposing a travel ban on India.

"Pinag-aaralan na po yan bagama't wala naman tayong direct flight sa India (We're looking into that although we don't have direct flights to and from India)," he said.

The variant first detected in India made headlines as cases surged in the said country. On Saturday, New Delhi reported more than 26,000 new cases and 306 deaths in just 24 hours, the equivalent of about one death every five minutes.

The said variant was tagged a "double mutant" because of two notable mutations in its spike protein, which allow the virus to easily gain entry into the human body and multiply faster.

The variant has also been detected in other countries such as the United States, Australia, Israel, Switzerland, and Singapore.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the Philippines has not yet detected the presence of the double mutant variant.

"We reviewed all of our records. Pinaaral din natin sa (It was also studied by the) Philippine Genome Center," she said.

"We have not detected yet this kind of variant across the 5,000 na na-sequence na po natin na mga specimen dito sa bansa (specimens that we have sequenced in the country)," she added.