Philippines eyes more COVID-19 curbs to halt new variants

Philippines eyes more COVID-19 curbs to halt new variants

Philippines eyes more COVID-19 curbs to halt new variants

Philippines eyes more COVID-19 curbs to halt new variants

A policeman wearing a face mask and shield as a preventive measure against COVID-19, carries a rifle while standing guard at a check point in an almost empty road on the eve of Christmas, in Manila on December 24, 2020. (AFP)

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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

Updated 26 December 2020

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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