Philippines is now considering Taiwan to be included in their travel Ban

The government of the Philippines planning to extend its temporary travel ban to all travelers originating from Taiwan.

The reason for the action involves the threats of the Novel Coronavirus outbreak.


On Monday, Gerardo Bayugo, DOH Undersecretary, stated that the Philippines’ Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases had discussed to include Taiwan in the list.

On Sunday, Taiwan had announced another case of the 2019 nCoV infection. This makes the country’s total infected person to 18.

The decision to ban travelers originating from Taiwan is still not final. It will still be discussed by the participating agencies of the inter-agency task force, according to Bayugo.


Currently, non-Filipino citizens who traveled to mainland China are still not allowed to enter Philippine territory. This travel ban includes foreigners who had traveled to Macau and Hong Kong in the past 2 weeks.

It should be clear that Filipino citizens and visa holders who are Philippine permanent residents are allowed to enter the country. However, they are required to do a home quarantine for 14 days.



The Bureau of Immigration had also postponed releasing tourist visas on arrival to Chinese travelers. This is the country’s way to prevent the chance of transmission of the Wuhan virus.

The Novel Coronavirus started in Wuhan City, China had already taken the lives of more than 900 individuals. Currently, there are approximately 40,000 infected individuals worldwide.

The lone confirmed deaths from the virus outside of mainland China are from the Philippines and Hong Kong.