Senator Panfilo Lacson blasted Health Secretary Duque’s remark after the latter stated that they country will only consider a travel ban on the United Kingdom once a community transmission of the new COVID strain in the country has been detected.
“Hayaan daw munang kumalat sa Pilipinas ang Covid 19 variant mula sa UK bago mag travel ban. Galit ba sa Pilipino ang taong ito?,” said Lacson on his official Twitter account.
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The Department of Health clarified that Duque was referring not just to the UK, but other countries with confirmed cases of the new COVID strain as well.
As of posting time, the Philippines has yet to detect any cases of the new COVID-19 strain and has suspended flights from the UK starting December 24 until December 31.
Meanwhile, other countries have already begun to impose a travel ban on the UK, including Turkey, Switzerland, Canada, and Italy, as an early preventive to prevent the entry of the new COVID strain.
READ ON: Here’s what we know so far about new strain of COVID-19 in UK
