102 more OFWs flown home amid COVID-19 pandemic

102 OFWs arrive in Manila on April 21, 2020. (Photo courtesy of the DFA-Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs)

MANILA, Philippines—A new batch of repatriates, consisting of 102 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), returned home on Tuesday amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported.

The batch was composed of five land-based workers of the Toa Corporation from Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire and 97 crew members of the Norwegian Joy, a cruise ship docked in Los Angeles, California in the United States, according to a DFA release on Tuesday.

Their return was facilitated by the Philippine Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles, and the DFA – Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs and the respective employers of the OFWs.

The repatriates underwent the required health assessment by the Department of Health – Bureau of Quarantine and are set to undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine.

More than 1,500 repatriated OFWs have so far been cleared to return to their respective homes after showing no symptoms of COVID-19 during the said mandatory quarantine, according to President Rodrigo Duterte’s fourth weekly report to Congress on the implementation of the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.

The number of Filipinos abroad with COVID-19 rose to 1,084 on Tuesday, after 94 cases from the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific were recorded.

Recent DFA data showed that of the cases, 662 are currently undergoing treatment, 269 have recovered or have been discharged from hospitals, while 153 people have died. Over 18,000 Filipinos have been flown home since the repatriation program for OFWs started in February.

/MUF