Passengers from Austria have been added to the list of travel restricted countries not allowed to enter the country.

Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Jaime Morente announced foreign passengers coming from or have been to Austria 14 days prior to arrival in the Philippines shall be prohibited from entering the country.

“The restriction for those coming from Austria will start at 12:01 midnight of January 10, and will be in effect until January 15,” he said.

The added restriction brings the total number of restricted countries to 28.

Earlier, the government imposed a travel ban on travelers from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Australia, Israel, The Netherlands, Hong Kong SAR, Switzerland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Lebanon, Singapore, Sweden, South Korea, South Africa, Canada, Spain, and the United States.

Included yesterday are Portugal, India, Finland, Norway, Jordan, and Brazil.

Morente clarified that Filipinos coming from these countries will be allowed entry, but will be referred to the airport’s one stop shop to “undergo an absolute facility-based 14-day quarantine period, notwithstanding a negative RT-PCR result,” he added.

Those who will be merely transiting in the said 28 countries will not be required to undergo the 14 day quarantine, but will still have to undergo regular protocols for arriving passengers.

“They will be considered transiting if they merely stayed in the airport, were just there for a layover, and were not cleared for entry by immigration authorities in the said countries,” said Morente.

The expanded travel restrictions have been directed by Malacanang following the reported new South African COVID-19 variant.