Manila, Jun 15 (IANS): The Philippines has extended the travel ban for all inbound travellers from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) until June 30, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.

In a statement late Monday, Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte approved the extension of travel restrictions to prevent the spread of the highly infectious Covid variant, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Philippines initially imposed travel restrictions on India from April 29 amid the devastating second wave of the pandemic in the South Asian giant.

It further 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 on May 15 after overseas Filipino workers that flew in from these countries tested positive for the highly infectious Delta variant

The Philippines has sp far reported 1,322,053 confirmed Covid cases, with 22,845 deaths.