Oman, UAE added to list of countries covered by travel ban until May 31
(Eagle News) — All passengers coming from or who have been to India 14 days preceding arrival in the Philippines shall still be banned from entering the country until May 31.
According to the Bureau of Immigration, the ban also covers travelers from Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, , Sri Lanka and, additionally, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
The travel ban on passengers from the seven countries takes effect today, May 15, and will end at 11:59 p.m. on May 31.
All passengers from those countries or with travel history to those countries arriving in the Philippines before May 15 shall not be banned from entering the country but will be required to undergo an “absolute facility-based 14-day quarantine period notwithstanding a negative RT-PCR test result.”
Filipinos coming from those countries who are covered by a repatriation program shall not be banned from entering the Philippines but shall be subject to the same conditions.
Meanwhile, Filipinos and others merely transiting through these countries shall not be deemed as having come from or having been to those countries provided that they “stayed in the airport the whole time and were not cleared for entry into these countries by immigration authorities.”
These passengers don’t have to comply with the absolute 14-day facility-based quarantine but should comply with the quarantine and testing protocols of the national government, the bureau said.
As for foreign nationals who are holders of 9(a) visas or Special Resident Retirees visas, the bureau said they need to secure an entry exemption document from the Department of Foreign Affairs and/or the National Task Force Against COVID-19 prior to arrival to be allowed entry into the Philippines.
The entry exemption document issued by the national task force should be valid only until May 31.
The bureau said existing guidelines for arriving crew members shall be observed.
The travel ban on passengers from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh was supposed to end on May 14.
