The Bureau of Immigration (BI) reminded airlines not to board passengers arriving from seven restricted countries until July 15 to prevent the spread of the more infectious Delta coronavirus variant.
In an advisory, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the extension of the ban complies with the latest Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) resolution extending for two more weeks the ban on the entry of passengers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.
Morente said existing guidelines governing the arrival of passengers from these seven countries shall still be observed.
“Foreigners arriving from the said countries will be denied entry and immediately sent back to their port of origin. On the other hand, Filipinos arriving from these countries as part of repatriation efforts by the government and non-government sectors will be allowed entry,” the BI chief added.
The Delta variant now accounts for 26% of COVID-19 cases in the United States, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated in an update Tuesday.
The B.1.1.7 or Alpha lineage of the virus, first spotted in the United Kingdom, was still the dominant variant in the US as of June 19, representing 47.8% of cases, the CDC estimated.
But it said the B.1.617.2 or Delta variant first seen in India was now the second most common lineage, making up 26.1% of cases. The CDC bases its estimates on genomic sequencing of samples taken from people and then models what that might mean for the whole country.
The P.1 or Gamma variant first seen in Brazil is the third most common variant in the US, accounting for 14.5% of cases as of June 19.
COVID-19 infections are rising again in Europe after falling for two and a half months, mainly because of the Delta variant in the UK and Russia, according to a tally Tuesday by AFP.
The two countries have experienced not only the newest cases in Europe, but also the most rapid spread among those that have recorded more than 1,000 cases per day.
Meanwhile, Atty. Carlos Capulong, BI Port Operations Division Chief, clarified that the latest IATF resolution also allowed passengers who have been fully vaccinated to undergo a 7-day facility based quarantine.
“Hence, they would need to present their 7-day booking, as well as proof of vaccination to the BI before clearance. They must likewise have come from countries tagged as ‘green’ by the Department of Health,” he added.
Those who have not been vaccinated will still undergo a 10-day facility-based quarantine, Capulong said.
In the resolution, the IATF tasked the Bureau of Quarantine at the airport’s One Stop Shop to verify vaccination records of arriving passengers.
Current restrictions allow the entry of Filipinos, balikbayans, and those with valid and existing visas from countries not part of the travel ban.
“Except for balikbayans, tourist visa holders are still not allowed to enter the country,” Capulong added.
Russia has recorded 20,400 daily cases for the last seven days, or a 25-percent increase in a week, while the UK has registered 16,400 daily infections, up 70 percent, according to the tally based on official sources.
Russian and UK officials blame the Delta strain first identified in India for the vast majority of new cases.
Driven by the situation in both countries, infections in Europe are rising again, now at the rate of 56,800 new cases per day — 21 percent more than a week ago.
Between June 12-18, this measure had hit its lowest point across the continent since mid-September, when there were around 46,000 daily cases.
On the other hand, the virus continues its retreat in several other countries among the worst hit since the pandemic reached Europe in January 2020.
Some 1,820 new daily cases have been recorded in France in the last seven days, or 23 percent fewer than the preceding week, 714 in Italy (35 percent fewer), and 650 in Germany (31 percent).
The number of people dying is starting to rise again across Europe, although more slowly, with nearly 1,100 deaths recorded daily, around eight percent higher over the previous week.
But these numbers are still well below those reached at the height of the pandemic when more than 5,700 were dying daily in January.
Russia accounts for more than half of the new deaths recorded in Europe, with nearly 600 deaths daily on average for the last seven days — or 33 percent higher than the previous week.
In the UK, there has been a near-doubling of new deaths in two weeks, from around ten daily to 17 last week.
But the number is still far below levels during the peak in January when nearly 1,250 people died every day.