Philippines extends ban on UK flights

The Philippines has decided to extend a travel ban for flights from the UK for another two weeks until mid-January to ensure that the new coronavirus strain found in Britain will not enter the country.

President Rodrigo Duterte made the decision on Saturday after meeting with the inter-agency COVID-19 task force to discuss the implications of the new strain to his country's efforts to contain the disease, reports Xinhua news agency

The Philippines had initially suspended flights from Britain from December 24-31.

Duterte approved a strict mandatory 14-day quarantine period for people coming from places with the confirmed new variant.

The President also green-lighted a recommendation of the task force to consider travel restrictions from places with local community transmission of the new variant.

The Philippines has so far recorded more than 468,000 coronavirus cases and 9,062 deaths.