With cities and provinces across the country locked down due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus disease, or Covid-19, the US Embassy in the Philippines posted a bulletin from the Negros Oriental and Dumaguete City Provincial Tourism Offices informing tourists and foreign nationals that they are providing flights to Cebu City for those with confirmed flights out of Mactan Cebu International Airport.

The bulletin advised those concerned to contact their local city or municipal tourism office in order to include their information on their database.

According to the recent travel restrictions imposed by the Bureau of Immigration, only foreign nationals, permanent residents and student visa holders, and certain overseas Filipino workers are permitted to exit the country.

Mactan Cebu International Airport has recently been experiencing an increased volume of stranded passengers with the most recent involving 134 passengers with connections through Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila.

Meanwhile, NAIA recently provided a list of their current operational flights including destinations in Japan, Oman, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, the US, Indonesia, and Guam.

However, despite flights operating between Manila and Hong Kong, the Department of Foreign Affairs noted, effective yesterday, non-residents of the special administrative region will not be permitted entry, along with transit passengers, over the next two weeks./WDJ