Philippines to ban travel from France from Dec 13

Manila, Dec 9 (IANS) The Philippines will ban travel from France starting from December 13 to stem the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, a government official said.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the ban will take effect until December 15 just like the 14 other countries earlier flagged by the government, before a possible extension to be approved, reports Xinhua news agency.

"The entry in any port of the Philippines shall not be allowed for passengers coming from or who have been to France within the last 14 days prior to arrival in the Philippines, regardless of vaccination status," he said.

Only Filipinos returning "may be allowed entry, subject to existing testing and quarantine protocols for red list countries or territories or jurisdictions", he said.

Last month, the Philippines imposed travel restrictions on South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, and Italy.

Nograles said France will be included in the so-called "red list" of high-risk countries and territories with known cases of the Omicron variant.

Till date, the Philippines has reported more than 2.83 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 49,761 deaths.