Philippines extends travel ban on India, six other countries until July 15

MANILA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines maintained the travel ban for all inbound travelers from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) until July 15, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Tuesday.

"This is one of the proactive measures imposed to implement international border control because of the COVID-19 Delta variant," Roque said in a televised press conference.

The Philippines has detected the more transmissible Delta variants in the samples taken from 17 returning Filipinos, among whom a seafarer has died, the Department of Health of the Philippines said.

The Southeast Asian country initially imposed travel restrictions on India from April 29 due to the surge in COVID-19 infections in that country. It widened the ban to include travelers from Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka from May 7.

It also banned international arrivals from Oman and the UAE from May 15 after overseas Filipino workers who flew in from these countries tested positive for the Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus first detected in India.

The Philippines has reported a total of 1,408,058 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, including 24,557 deaths.