The Philippines has temporarily banned entry to foreign seafarers from 21 countries in its efforts to stop the spread of new strains of coronavirus.
Seafarers will be restricted from entering the Philippines until 15 January, according to a posting on the Philippines Port Authority’s official Facebook account.
Banned countries include the major shipping industry nations of Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the UK and the US.
Others include Australia, Canada, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
The port authority added that additional countries could be included in the list by order of the office of the Philippines president.
Filipino and foreign seafarers without immigration admission will be allowed to disembark from ships coming from countries not on the list subject to existing health and safety protocols in the Philippines.
Filipino crew coming from the prohibited countries will be allowed to disembark at the Port of Manila if they have a negative Covid-19 test and are transported by their shipping agents to designated coastguard quarantine facilities where they would have to stay for 14 days.
The move by the Philippines comes as Singapore tightens its Covid-19 testing requirements for shore-based staff after two people were found to have contracted the virus after flouting government advice designed to combat its spread.
Personnel will now have to be tested every seven days, instead of 14, before they are allowed to board ships for work, the Maritime and Port Authority said.
It also follows action by many countries, particularly in Europe, to stop ships and aircraft from the UK in December, when the spread of the more contagious variant of the disease became apparent.
In September, the Philippine Ports Authority opened a dedicated testing laboratory for its crew-change hub ports with a daily capacity of about 2,000 Covid-19 tests and a 24 to 48-hour turnaround time for results.
The country is one of the major suppliers of seafarers with more than 400,000 Filipinos on board international-going vessels.
