(Eagle News) – The Philippine government on Tuesday, March 3, partially lifted the travel restrictions to South Korea, stressing that only travel to North Gyeongsang Province, including Daegu City and Cheongdo county, is banned.
According to the Inter-agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IAFT-EID) headed by the Department of Health (DOH), Filipinos will now be allowed to travel to the other parts of South Korea provided that they “sign a declaration signifying their knowledge and understanding of the risks involved.”
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III noted that South Korea has already made great strides in managing the coronavirus disease. This is why, he said, that they agreed to partially lift the travel ban in South Korea in the last IATF meeting.
“The IATF has resolved to partially lift travel restrictions to South Korea as their government has implemented stringent infection control measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. South Korea has also reported a low case fatality rate of only 0.5%, and the successful containment of local transmission to only certain areas,” Duque said.
-Travel exemptions expanded to HK, Macau for dependents of permanent residents-
The Philippine government also “agreed to expand travel exemptions” in Hong Kong and Macau, aside from South Korea.
The Task Force is now allowing dependents of permanent residents of South Korea, Hong Kong and Macau to travel to these areas “as long as they also sign a risk-acknowledgement declaration.”
The government has earlier imposed a travel ban on South Korea.
The ban however exempted from the ban those who live, study or work there.
But President Rodrigo Duterte said that he was not in favor of a total travel ban on South Korea.
“You cannot do that. There cannot be a total travel ban and you do not allow anybody to enter. You are going to lock down the entire Philippines for that,” Duterte said in an interview on Feb. 26.
Immigration commissioner Jaime Morente later clarified that they are implementing a partial ban, and not a total ban on South Korea which has the most most number of coronavirus infections outside China.
“It is not a total ban for travelers from South Korea, but for travelers coming from North Gyeongsang Province, Daeugu, and Cheongdo only,” Morente said.
On Tuesday, South Korea reported its biggest daily case increase to date, sending its total past 5,000 — the largest in the world outside China.
South Korea has seen a rapid rise in infections in recent days and scores of events — from K-pop concerts to sports seasons — have been cancelled or postponed over the contagion, with school and kindergarten breaks extended by three weeks nationwide.