THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has reminded airlines that they will not be allowed to mount special commercial flights from countries under travel ban unless they follow certain conditions.
On Twitter, DFA Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola said that majority of passengers on Bayanihan flights should be ticket holders of cancelled flights.
“The airlines are already applying for Bayanihan flights. Their applications will not be approved unless majority of their seats are for ticket holders of cancelled flights. Ticket holders should contact their airlines,” she said.
Meanwhile, at least six repatriation flights from the UAE are currently scheduled in August.
The flights will be on August 6, 11, 13, 18, 20, 27.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that the Inter-Agency Task Force will discuss the fate of the prevailing travel restrictions imposed on the United Arab Emirates, Oman, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
The Department of Health confirmed last week that the Delta variant cases in the country are linked to one another leading to what experts call as ‘local transmission’.
“The DOH further emphasized the need to continuously enforce strict border control measures and intensify local COVID-19 responses with the local transmission of the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant in the Philippines,” the department said in a statement.
“The country has been implementing travel bans and stringent border control measures to delay the entry of the variant, giving the country a headstart to prepare its capacity to manage potential surges,” it added.
The DOH said that clusters of Delta variant cases were seen to be ‘linked to other local cases’, therefore, exhibiting local transmission.
