818 OFWs flown home amid COVID-19 pandemic, bringing total to 19,407 repatriates

By: Ian Biong - 5 years ago

A batch of 818 OFWs returned home from Thursday to Friday. (Photo courtesy of the DFA-Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs)

MANILA, Philippines—Another batch of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), consisting of 818 people from various parts of the globe, have returned home to the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

The repatriates, who came from the United Kingdom, Equatorial Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo and Australia, arrived via three separate chartered flights at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, the DFA said Friday in a release.

The DFA noted that doctors from the Philippine Coast Guard administered rapid testing for COVID-19 on the repatriates upon their arrival. The OFWs are set to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine set by the Bureau of Quarantine.

As of Friday, 19,407 Filipinos from all over the world have been flown home since the start of the DFA’s repatriation program in February.

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 mandatory quarantine period, according to President Rodrigo Duterte’s fourth weekly report to Congress on the implementation of the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act last Monday.