Manila, June 1 (IANS): The Philippines government has extended the travel ban on all incoming arrivals from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) until June 15, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.

Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte late Monday night approved the extension of restrictions to prevent the spread of the highly infectious variants, reports Xinhua news agency.

The government had earlier suspended the entry of travellers from the seven countries until May 31.

The Philippines initially imposed travel restrictions on India from April 29 in the wake of the country's devastating second wave of the pandemic.

It widened the ban to include travellers from Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka from May 7.

The Philippines also banned international arrivals from Oman and the UAE starting May 15 after overseas Filipino workers that flew in from these two countries tested positive for the coronavirus variants.

The Philippines has reported a total of 1,230,301 Covid cases, with 20,966 deaths.