The Philippines should shut its border to all countries with known cases of the new coronavirus variant, lawmakers from the House of Representatives said on Sunday. …
The Philippines should shut its border to all countries with known cases of the new coronavirus variant, lawmakers from the House of Representatives said on Sunday. President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday approved the extension of a two-week travel ban on the United Kingdom up to mid-January to keep the variant from reaching the Philippines. He also approved mandatory quarantine for travelers from countries where the variant had been reported, such as Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. But for some members of the House, that is not enough. Antique Rep. Loren Legarda, a deputy House Speaker, said on Sunday a “travel ban from countries with known mutant coronavirus must be highly considered now.” “We cannot afford to be laid back, again, and wait for local transmission,” Legarda tweeted, recalling how she recommended to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to impose a travel ban on China in January, but the health chief did not heed her recommendation. She said Duque told the House then: “That is not needed. We can handle it.” “And now we must wait for community transmission? We can ill afford that,” Legarda said. On Saturday, Duque said the government would consider a travel ban on other countries only when local transmission of the variant occurred in those countries. In a statement, BHW Rep. Angelica Natasha Co urged a ban on all flights from the United Kingdom, where the coronavirus variant was first reported in mid-December. “I appeal to all airlines [that] have direct and connecting flights to and from the UK to voluntarily stop all those flights.
