The Philippines added Jamaica to an ever-expanding travel ban list on Wednesday (January 13) after the island confirmed four cases of the new COVID-19 strain first detected in the United Kingdom.

In a televised press conference, Secretary Harry Roque said the ban would also include China, Oman, Luxembourg, and Pakistan—lasting for an initial period of two days, effective noon Wednesday.

The travel ban brings to 26 the number of countries that have had landing privileges into the Philippines rescinded.

“The People’s Republic of China, Pakistan, Jamaica, Luxembourg and Oman are included in the countries that have a new COVID-19 variant and foreigners from these countries are prohibited from entering, from there in those places effective January 13, at noon, 12:01 pm until January 15, subject to further recommendation of the IATF,′′ the presidential spokesperson said.

The Filipino travel ban applies to passengers arriving directly from the listed countries, as well as those who have visited within 14 days immediately preceding arrival in the Philippines, will be restricted from entering the country.

Filipinos from these countries will be allowed to repatriate, however, they must undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine, even if they obtain a negative RT-PCR test result.

The Philippines had previously banned arrivals from the United Kingdom as well as: United States, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Australia, Israel, Holland, Hong Kong, Switzerland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Lebanon, Singapore, Sweden, South Korea, South Africa, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Norway, Jordan and Brazil.

The Rodrigo Duerte-led government also placed travel bans on Austria, as the country confirmed a new COVID-19 variant first reported in South Africa.

According to Roque, while the Philippines is yet to detect any of the new coronavirus strains, the travel ban may be extended or lifted depending on the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease.

The Southeast Asian country confirmed a further 1,912 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the national total to 494,605.

Philippines officials are currently managing 25,614 active cases, according to data Our Today has obtained from the local Department of Health (DOH).

The country has recorded 459,252 recoveries to date, while 9,739 patients have died from coronavirus-related complications.