The Department of Health (DOH) is in favor of retaining the existing travel ban imposed by the Philippine government on seven countries including the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and five other countries.
The extension of the travel restriction, which was set to expire on June 30, has been confirmed by Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque and Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque to The Filipino Times in a text message on Tuesday, June 29.
A day before the travel curb expires, Health Spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire explained in a media interview: “There are a lot of Filipinos coming from these countries. It’s very irrational that we will restrict all countries. Times are very dynamic. We just retain 7 countries which we think are most affected.”
The DOH official said the government is not inclined on adding more countries with the Delta COVID-19 variant.
“We cannot ban all countries affected with delta. There are 92 countries with delta and we cannot isolate PH from all these countries. Our recommendation will be not to add more countries to be banned but let’s strengthen our border controls so isolation, quarantine and genome sequencing,” Vergeire said.
In a televised speech of President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night, there was no mention of the status of the ban in a 1 hour and 40-minute discussion on government policies against COVID-19.
Some OFWs in UAE are patiently waiting for the fate of the ban, especially those who have flights on July 1 onwards.
“Sana naman mabigyan na ng pansin ang aming hinaing na malift na ang travel ban,” a netizen commented on The Filipino Times story.
“Wish nang nakauwi ako plsss 3 cancel hnd birong mag hintay at mag abang nang magandang balita,” another one commented.
“Pakinggan nyo nmn mga ofw dito sa uae.ibalik n ang flight stress na kami at may ticket naman kami,” another OFW lamented.
