Philippines suspends entries as COVID-19 cases rise

JAKARTA, Indonesia

The Philippines COVID-19 Task Force on Tuesday suspended the entry of foreigners and some returning citizens to the country.

“Foreigners and returning nationals who had not been working overseas will not be able to enter the country from March 20 until April 19,” said the task force in a written statement released late Tuesday.

But the ban does not apply to emergency cases, foreign government officials, and returning nationals who have been working overseas.

The country's Civil Aviation Authority has decided to limit the number of inbound international passengers/arrivals to only 1,500 a day starting Tuesday.

The decision was taken as the Philippines battles a renewed surge in COVID-19 cases and rising infections of the new variants.

The country on Monday reported 5,404 new cases, the highest daily rise in cases in almost six months.

“The spike in cases is highly likely to be attributed to increased transmission due to noncompliance to the public health protocols, especially during gatherings, increased mobility of people, delays of detection and isolation of infected patients, and the entry of SARS-CoV-2 variants,” the task force explained.

Last week, the Department of Health confirmed more cases of the new coronavirus strains, including 59 cases for the UK variant B 1.1.7, 32 for the South African strain B.1.351, and one new case for the Brazilian P.1 variant.

So far, the Southeast Asian country recorded 635,698 COVID-19 cases, with 12,866 fatalities and 561,099 recoveries, according to the health authority.

*Writing by Maria Elisa Hospita with Anadolu Agency's Indonesian language service