Cebu Pacific cancels flights to Taiwan indefinitely after DOH confirms travel ban

MANILA, Philippines – After the Department of Health confirmed that Taiwan is covered by the temporary travel ban imposed to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), Cebu Pacific canceled all its flights between Taipei and Manila indefinitely as of Tuesday, February 11.

Earlier, Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo justified Taiwan’s inclusion in the travel ban by saying that the World Health Organization recognizes it as part of China. 

Thus, the following Cebu Pacific flights are canceled:

Manila-Taipei

• 5J 312
• 5J 310

Taipei-Manila

• 5J 311 
• 5J 313

What travel ban? The travel ban ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte includes mainland China, Macao, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The restrictions mean that Filipino nationals are barred from traveling to Taiwan, including flight and cabin crew.

Further non-Filipino citizens traveling from Taiwan will be barred from entering the country. Filipino citizens and permanent resident visa holders will be granted entry but will be subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine.

What can affected passengers do? According to Cebu Pacific, passengers on the canceled flights are being notified of the development, and the following options are made available to them:

• Rebooking the flight (new flight date until June 30, 2020)
• Refund the tickets in full
• Store the value of the ticket in a Travel Fund for future use

The latest: As of February 10, the virus has killed 910 people and infected 40,655 people worldwide.

In the Philippines, 3 cases have been confirmed, with two already recovered from the infection and one dead due to severe pneumonia.

A number of 30 Filipinos were repatriated from China’s Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, and are now quarantined in the New Clark City Athletes’ Village for 14 days. – with reports from Loreben Tuquero/Rappler.com