MANILA, Philippines — Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Tuesday threw his support behind a proposal to place a travel ban on India as it grapples with a record-breaking wave of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Locsin on Twitter said members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases sought his advice on the possible foreign policy implications of such a ban. Local experts are currently studying the COVID-19 variant that has contributed to the surge of infections in India, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Monday. She added that the departments of health and of foreign affairs are discussing the possibility of imposing a ban on the South Asian country. Meanwhile, the Philippines reached a grim milestone on Monday, marking over a million COVID-19 infections since the onset of the pandemic.

Source: Philippine Star April 27, 2021 09:11 UTC