MANILA, Philippines — Some 370,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have been repatriated in light of the coronavirus pandemic, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) said Thursday.
According to OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac, they are also expecting another 80,000 migrant workers to return home after being displaced by the health crisis.
“That’s for the first half of next year,” Cacdac said in a televised Laging Handa Public Briefing.
Filipino migrant workers have been returning to the Philippines since mid-March after coronavirus infections worldwide rapidly rose, forcing governments to impose strict movement restrictions that severely affected business operations.
The respiratory disease, which was first reported in Hubei, China late last year, has so far infected over 74 million people worldwide.
In the Philippines, the COVID-19 caseload currently stands at 452,988, majority or 419,282 are recoveries while 8,833 are fatalities.