The emergence of the new coronavirus variant led the Philippine government to impose travel bans on foreign travelers, which now includes those from the United States. The US is the 20th area to be included in the list.
According to Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, the travel ban will be from 12:01 am of Jan. 3 to Jan. 15.
Passengers coming from the US or passed through the US who will arrive before Sunday are allowed to enter the country, but they will be required to complete the 14-day facility-based quarantine regardless of their RT-PCR test result.
On December 30, the US government confirmed its first detected case of the coronavirus variant which was first found in the UK. The patient is a man in his 20s who was confirmed with the new strain of virus even when he did not travel abroad.
This variant is said to be more contagious and is linked to the recent surge of coronavirus cases in England.
