AS advocated by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. the government yesterday lifted the travel ban for Filipinos who are returning for work in Hong Kong and Macau.
In a tweet, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Concerns Brigido Dulay said “today, DFA Sec Locsin’s advocacy has come true. OFWs returning for work in Hong Kong and Macau have been exempted from the outbound travel ban by the IATF-EID (Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases), subject to certain procedural formalities. “
Locsin Jr., on Sunday said he is considering to lift the travel ban for Filipinos returning to the Hong Kong Special Administraive Region (HK SAR) within two weeks.
He said Hong Kong has better facilities to contain the virus.
Early this month, President Rodrigo Duterte imposed a ban on Filipinos traveling to China and its Special Administrative Regions Hong Kong and Macao amid the threat of the Covid-19 outbreak. It later included Taiwan but the restriction was lifted a few days after a recommendation from the inter-agency group.
There are now more than 1,800 deaths in China mostly in Hubei province due to COVID-19.
