Why have some governments banned outbound international flights in response to COVID-19?
For example, the Philippines initially announced (but later reversed) a ban on outbound flights:
Airports in Luzon [large island in Philippines where the capital, Manila, is located] will stop all outbound international flights starting Friday after the government gave a 72-hour window to all those who wish to leave the country after heightened measures were put in place to control the spread of COVID-19.
The New York Times has an article on travel bans that identifies a few other cases of countries with outbound travel bans, including:
- Namibia: "suspending inbound and outbound flights from Qatar, Ethiopia and Germany for 30 days"
- Bolivia: "cessation of all flights to and from Europe"
- Peru: "The measure means all international flights will be canceled. "
I understand the ban of inbound international flights to prevent contaminated individuals from entering the country, but banning outbound flights seems less obvious to me.