Manila, Jul 30 (IANS): The Philippines has extended an ongoing travel ban for all inbound travellers from India and nine other countries from August 1 to 15 to prevent the spread of the highly infectious Covid-19 Delta variant, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Friday.

In a statement, Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte approved the travel ban extension to curb the further spread and community transmission of Covid-19 variants in the Philippines, reports Xinhua news agency.

Aside from India, the nine other countries are Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

However, the Philippines allows returning of overseas Filipino workers under its repatriation program, but they will be isolated for 14 days upon the arrival.

The more virulent Delta variant has spread in the Philippines.

On Thursday, the Health Department said that it detected 97 new Delta variant cases.

The new cases pushed the overall Delta infection tally to 216.

At least eight Delta patients have died.

The Philippines has reported a total of 1,572,287 confirmed Covid cases, with 27,577 deaths.