MANILA: The Philippines approved measures on Saturday to slow the spread of new, more infectious coronavirus variants, as President Rodrigo Duterte warned of a second lockdown should cases spike before the country gets its first vaccines in May.
Countries around the world have in recent days closed their borders to flights from Britain and South Africa, where more infectious variants have been detected.
Duterte extended an existing a ban on flights from Britain by two weeks to mid-January, and said the Philippines would impose travel curbs on countries with local community transmission of the UK variant.
With more than 469,000 infections and 9,067 deaths, the Philippines has the second highest number of COVID-19 cases and casualties in Southeast Asia, next to Indonesia.
Neither the UK nor the South African variant have been detected there yet, however.
In an emergency meeting with health experts and government officials, Duterte also ordered a 14-day quarantine for passengers who have come from or transited through Britain, and from countries where the more infectious COVID-19 variant first identified there was detected, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and Japan.
Duterte pledged free vaccines for the country's 108 million population, with shipments and inoculation to start in May.
"If (in the meantime) severity in numbers would demand that we take corrective measures immediately, then we should just have to go back to lockdown," he said.
In mid-March, the Philippines imposed one of the world's longest and toughest coronavirus lockdowns, which were gradually relaxed in June to allow a slow reopening of the economy.
The Philippines is in talks to acquire around 80 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including from Pfizer Inc, Moderna and Britain's AstraZeneca, as well as Johnson & Johnson, India's Novavax Inc, China's Sinovac and Russia's Gamaleya Institute.
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Philippines eyes more COVID-19 curbs to halt new variants
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Philippines eyes more COVID-19 curbs to halt new variants
- Duterte ordered a 14-day quarantine for passengers that came from or transited in the UK
- Duterte pledged free vaccines for the country's 108 million population, with shipments and inoculation to start in May
Remains of last Thai hostage in Gaza repatriated
- The remains of Sudthisak Rinthalak arrived at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport from Tel Aviv
- Israel’s army said last week it had identified Sudthisak’s body which was returned by Hamas
BANGKOK: The body of the last Thai national held hostage in Gaza since the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel was returned home on Wednesday, Thailand’s foreign ministry said.
The remains of Sudthisak Rinthalak arrived at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport from Tel Aviv, ministry official Jeerasak Pomsuwan said, more than two years after the attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Sudthisak was 43 and working in agriculture in southern Israel when he was killed on the day of the Hamas attack. His body was then taken to the Gaza Strip and held there throughout the ensuing war.
While Hamas released the living hostages it held in Gaza as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel, the process of returning the remains of deceased captives has dragged on.
Israel’s army said last week it had identified Sudthisak’s body which was returned by militants, and handed it over to Thai authorities for burial.
Sudthisak’s father Thongma told local outlet Manager Online that the family had been waiting for his remains so they could perform Buddhist funeral rites in his hometown in the northeastern province of Nong Khai.
Israel’s ambassador to Thailand Alona Fisher-Kamm expressed condolences to Sudthisak’s family during a mourning ceremony in Tel Aviv: “May he rest in peace.”
Thai Labour Minister Treenuch Thienthong said in a Facebook post that she would “guarantee the full benefits his family is entitled to.”
Nearly 30,000 Thais work in Israel, according to Thailand’s labor ministry, most of them in the agricultural sector where wages far exceed those at home.
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people.
The Thai labor ministry said 47 Thai nationals were killed during the conflict.
More than 70,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the outbreak of the war, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.
The remains of Sudthisak Rinthalak arrived at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport from Tel Aviv, ministry official Jeerasak Pomsuwan said, more than two years after the attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Sudthisak was 43 and working in agriculture in southern Israel when he was killed on the day of the Hamas attack. His body was then taken to the Gaza Strip and held there throughout the ensuing war.
While Hamas released the living hostages it held in Gaza as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel, the process of returning the remains of deceased captives has dragged on.
Israel’s army said last week it had identified Sudthisak’s body which was returned by militants, and handed it over to Thai authorities for burial.
Sudthisak’s father Thongma told local outlet Manager Online that the family had been waiting for his remains so they could perform Buddhist funeral rites in his hometown in the northeastern province of Nong Khai.
Israel’s ambassador to Thailand Alona Fisher-Kamm expressed condolences to Sudthisak’s family during a mourning ceremony in Tel Aviv: “May he rest in peace.”
Thai Labour Minister Treenuch Thienthong said in a Facebook post that she would “guarantee the full benefits his family is entitled to.”
Nearly 30,000 Thais work in Israel, according to Thailand’s labor ministry, most of them in the agricultural sector where wages far exceed those at home.
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people.
The Thai labor ministry said 47 Thai nationals were killed during the conflict.
More than 70,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the outbreak of the war, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.
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