That travel bans completely fail to stop infectious diseases was never more clear than in the Philippines. A perfect example, the Philippines as an island nation has no land borders with other countries for people to cross. Almost all arrivals are by air travel. Visa issuance and visa-free entry for all foreign nationals was suspended on March 19, 2020 and Philippines suspended most inbound air travel to the country around the same time. The country did not reopen to foreign travelers in 2020 [and still hasn’t]. As you can see in the chart covid cases continued to climb exponentially. The travel ban certainly had no effect on the spread of covid.
