MALACAÑANG announced an extension on the government-imposed travel ban on foreign nationals wanting to set foot in the Philippines until the end of the month.
In a statement, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that the government decided to defer the entry of foreigners in the country because of the continuing onslaught of COVID-19 as manifested in figures of fresh cases averaging 10,000 daily.
The travel ban is supposed to end on March 22.
“Foreign nationals with valid entry exemption documents duly issued by the DFA prior to March 22, 2021 will be allowed entry to the Philippines,” Roque said.
Roque earlier said that exceptions include diplomats, members of international organizations and their dependents, foreigners involved in medical repatriation, foreign seafarers under green lane programs for crew change, foreign spouses and children of Filipinos traveling with them and emergency or humanitarian cases.
Filipinos abroad, however, may return to the Philippines.
Passenger arrivals at Manila’s international airport are limited to a maximum of 1,500 per day until April 19 to help arrest the spread of COVID-19.
As of this posting, the Department of Health has recorded a total of 904,285 coronavirus infections, of which 183,527 or 20.3 percent were active cases as of Thursday. The agency also reported 148 new COVID-related deaths, pushing the country’s coronavirus death toll to 15,594.