14-day mandatory quarantine to include travelers from Spain
Passengers departing from Terminal 2 of the Mactan Cebu International Airport wear masks to protect themselves from the threat of the coronavirus disease 2019. | CDN Digital Photo by Morexette Marie B. Erram
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The mandatory 14-day quarantine for travelers arriving in Cebu from areas infected with the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been expanded to already include Spain.
Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia announced this development in a late-night press conference on Saturday, March 14, 2020.
Garcia, last March 9, 2020, also included passengers arriving from Italy and Iran in the mandatory quarantine protocol because of the number of COVID-19 cases and the high mortality rate there.
Recent data show that Spain already has 6,391 patients who contracted COVID-19 and is the now 5th country with the most number of cases outside China and next to South Korea.
According to international news reports, Spain has already implemented a nationwide lockdown due to the surge of the COVID-19 cases there.
Spain, Italy, and Iran are not covered by the travel ban imposed by the Philippine national government in view of the COVID-19 threat. Local Government Units (LGUs) like the Cebu provincial government cannot also order for the imposition of a travel ban on international travels.
The Philippines’ travel ban only covers mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau and Cheongo County, Daegu City, and North Gyeongsang province in South Korea.
Although a travel ban is hoisted in the said areas, Filipinos who wish to be repatriated were still allowed to come to the Philippines but would need to undergo a mandatory quarantine facilitated by the Department of Health.
Garcia said that she wanted to wait for “clearer implementation procedures from the national government’s Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID), the decision-making body on the COVID-19 situation,” before making any new decisions on international travels.
Garcia, in the same press conference, also ordered a 30-day ban on domestic arrivals, both via air and sea, as Cebu remains free from confirmed COVID-19 case.
Read: Cebu to ban entry of passengers from outside province
As of Sunday, March 15, 2020, a total of 111 cases have been reported in the Philippines with 9 deaths including the 62-year councilor from Tayasan town in Negros Oriental who died just this morning. / dcb
Read: COVID-19 patient in NegOr dies
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