Philippines extends ban on travellers from Sri Lanka

14 Jun, 2021

The Philippines has extended a ban on all inbound travellers from Sri Lanka as well as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) until June 30, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.

In a statement, Roque said Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte approved the extension of travel restrictions to prevent the spread of the highly infectious variant, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The Philippines initially imposed travel restrictions on India from April 29 due to the COVID-19 surge in that country. It widened the ban to include travelers from Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka from May 7.

The Philippines also banned international arrivals from Oman and the UAE on May 15 after overseas Filipino workers that flew in from these countries tested positive for the COVID-19 variant first found in India.

The Philippines has reported 1,322,053 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Monday, including 22,845 deaths. (Colombo Gazette)

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