STARTING this weekend, foreign nationals — except those coming from India — may enter the country, says Malacanang after the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) lifted the travel ban which was imposed March 22.
In adopting Resolution 113, the IATF cited recommendations of health experts who hinted at the decreasing number of reported coronavirus infections in recent days.
However, the IATF cited the need to comply with stringent measures which include requiring foreign nationals seeking to enter the Philippines to have valid and existing visas at the time of their entry, except those qualified under the government’s “Balikbayan Program.”
It is also a must for those entering the country to secure a pre-booked accommodation for at least seven nights in an accredited quarantine facility and they should undergo coronavirus testing on the sixth day from the date of their entry.
“In addition, they are subject to the maximum capacity of inbound passengers at the port and date of entry,” the IATF said.
IATF said that travelers from India are restricted from entering the country until mid-May in the wake of what experts referred to as “double mutant” COVID-19 variant, which triggered an infection rate in India beyond control.
Dubbed B.1.617, the new virus type has a number of mutations that could increase transmissibility and help escape immune response. The new virus type raised concerns from health experts since it has two key mutations also seen in other infamous strains, particularly on the variants first detected in South Africa and Brazil, as well as the dominant strain in California.
The Philippine government imposed the travel ban on foreigners on March 22. It was supposed to end April 21 but the government opted to extend it further in view of 10,000 daily fresh infection cases which saturated most of the hospitals in the areas classified as COVID-19 hotbeds.
Diplomats, members of international organizations and their dependents, foreigners involved in medical repatriation, seafarers under green lane programs for crew change, and foreign spouses and children of Filipinos traveling with them were exempted from the ban.