- Title: Hundreds of Filipinos leave capital as local travel ban to start on Sunday
- Date: 13th March 2020
- Summary: MANILA, PHILIPPINES (MARCH 13, 2020) (REUTERS) CROWD QUEUING TO PURCHASE BUS TICKETS TO LEAVE THE CITY VARIOUS BUS CONDUCTOR RECEIVING PAYMENT FROM TRAVELLERS VARIOUS PASSENGERS ENTERING BUS PASSENGERS INSIDE BUS (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) BUSINESSMAN, CHARLITO BARILLO, SAYING: "We came all the way from the province, we visited Manila and we didn't expect the sudden order for a lockdown. It really affected us." PASSENGERS IN FACE MASKS CROWDING IN IN BUS TERMINAL (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) BUSINESSMAN, CHARLITO BARILLO, SAYING: "We were working on the many different legal documents that we needed to run our business, that is why we travelled here. We didn't expect the government would order a lockdown. The different offices we went to only had a skeletal team left and it was difficult to get what we needed." PASSENGERS QUEUING AT BUS TERMINAL EXTERIOR OF NINOY AQUINO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TERMINAL 3 BUILDING VARIOUS PASSENGERS QUEUING AT TERMINAL ENTRANCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST, ABI MALEC, SAYING: "We heard about it this morning when we were arriving and they just told us. So we cannot fly anymore, so we have to go back to Minnesota probably tonight or tomorrow, we'll see what can we do because everything is packed." VARIOUS PASSENGERS IN LINE AT CHECK-IN COUNTERS AT AIRPORT
- Embargoed: 27th March 2020 10:21
- Keywords: COVID-19 Philippines coronavirus
- Location: MANILA, PHILIPINES
- City: MANILA, PHILIPINES
- Country: Philippines
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA001C4VY2IV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hundreds of Filipinos queued at a bus station in Manila on Friday (March 13) following an announcement of a localised travel ban in the capital by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Duterte on Thursday (March 12) approved a resolution raising the highest health alert in the Philippines and issued a series of containment measures, including the halt of domestic land, sea and air travels in the capital and community-based quarantine for villages affected by the coronavirus.
The travel restrictions in Manila will start on Sunday (March 15), but workers living outside the capital and delivery of goods and services are exempt from the ban, labour officials said.
Hundreds of travellers also queued at check-in counters at Manila's Ninoy Aquino Airport just after the announcement.
The Philippines currently has 52 recorded confirmed cases. The virus has infected more than 125,000 people globally and killed 4,600 in over 100 countries.
Despite having relatively few confirmed infections, health authorities are keen to halt the spread of the virus, having last year dealt with major outbreaks of dengue and measles, and the first cases of polio in two decades.
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