Philippines lifts travel ban on India, 9 other countries amidst rise in COVID-19 cases

The announcement came even as the country recorded its second highest number of COVID-19 cases with 20,310 infections on Friday, pushing the national tally to 2.04 million, The Manila Times newspaper reported. 

President Rodrigo Duterte approved the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to lift the current travel restrictions on India and nine other countries starting September 6, Presidential Palace spokesperson Harry Roque was quoted as saying by the newspaper. 

The other countries are Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, the official said. 

International travelers coming from the 10 countries shall, however, comply with the appropriate entry, testing and quarantine protocols, depending on their approved 'listing,' Roque said. 

The Philippine government, in a COVID-19 update on August 13, had extended its travel ban on India and nine other countries until August 31. 

The presidential spokesperson said the IATF approved the adoption of ''Yellow'' and ''Red'' classifications, in addition to the ''Green List'' countries/jurisdictions/territories. 

''This is based on their respective incidence rates and case counts as primary criteria, and testing data as secondary criteria. 

''The incidence rate is the cumulative new cases over the past 28 days per 100,000 population while case counts are cumulative new cases over the past 28 days,'' Roque added. 

Positivity rate remained at 27.4 per cent, meaning that out of the 67,759 tests, 18,566 tested positive for the coronavirus, the report added. 

Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 infection tally rose by 42,618 in a day to reach 3,29,45,907 while the number of active cases touched 4,05,681 following an increase for the fourth consecutive day, according to the Union Health Ministry data on Saturday. 

The death toll climbed to 4,40,225 with 330 more people succumbing to the viral disease, it added.