Lifting of ban on inbound travel less worrisome —OCTA fellow

The Philippine government's decision to lift the ban on inbound travel from 10 countries may be less of a concern to Filipinos as the COVID-19 situation in the country could be worse compared to that in India  or Pakistan, OCTA Research Fellow Dr. Guido David said Sunday.

David made the statement in reaction to the government's decision to lift by September 6 the ban on incoming travelers from 10 countries, including India and Pakistan.

In an interview over "Dobol B TV," David said he is not too bothered by the lifting  of the travel ban because the Philippines is among the 10 countries in Asia with a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases.

"Actually, tayo na nga ang isa sa pinakamataas na kaso sa Asia. Ibig sabihin baka sila na matakot dito galing India or even Pakistan, mga 4,000 na lang ata sila per day," said David.

(We are one of the countries in Asia with the highest number of cases. This means other countries will be scared to go here.)

"So parang sila mas matatakot na pumunta rito, kaysa tayo matatakot na papasukin nila dahil mas malala sitwasyon dito sa bansa natin," he added.

(So instead of us being afraid of people entering the country, I think they will be more scared to go here because the Philippines' situation is already worse.)

'Keep guard up'

However, David said this does not mean the national government will lower their guard on inbound travelers from other countries.

"Ang mas mahalaga ang quarantine restrictions sa dumarating na travelers" (What's important is to impose necessary quarantine restrictions for incoming travelers), he said.

The Philippines has imposed travel restrictions on India and nine other countries due to the threat of the highly infectious Delta coronavirus variant.

India's Health Ministry in May reported more than 200,000 new daily infections.

But recent data from India show a daily average of 40,000 new cases. 

On the other hand, Pakistan recorded more than 3,000 new cases on Sept. 3, bringing the total number of active cases to 90,076. 

On Saturday, the  Philippines' coronavirus tally rose to 2,061,084 with  1,869,376 recoveries and 34,062 deaths. It also reported more than 20,000 new cases on Saturday. —LBG, GMA News