13 OFWs who arrive in Cebu test positive for coronavirus

Cebu province. GOOGLE MAPS

CEBU CITY – At least 13 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who arrived in Cebu via a “mercy voyage” approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) tested positive for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

The Provincial Health Office (PHO) said eight of these 13 OFWs are residents of Cebu City. The other five are from Barangay Poblacion in Liloan town, Barangay Looc in Danao City, Barangay Sacsac in Consolacion town, Barangay Colon in the City of Naga, and Barangay Maya in Daanbantayan town.

The 13 were part of the 328 seafarers who were stranded in Manila and were allowed to travel to their respective hometowns this week even though most of the provinces imposed border controls due to the COVID-19.

All the Cebuano OFWs were billeted at a hotel in Cebu City for their mandatory 14-day quarantine.

In her press conference on Friday, Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia assured residents of the towns that there is nothing to worry about. She said that these newly-arrived OFWs have not yet returned to their homes after arriving from Manila last Tuesday, April 28.

“There was no interaction between the returning OFWs and the community yet,” she said.

The MV St. Michael the Archangel of 2Go Shipping carried some 328 Filipino overseas seafarers who were stranded in Manila. They were allowed to go back to their hometowns from the IATF-approved “mercy voyages” that made stops in Cebu, Dumaguete, Ozamiz, Iligan, and Zamboanga

At least 185 of these seafarers are Cebu residents while the rest are from other areas in the Visayas and Mindanao. The seafarers were initially tested.

Garcia said she had pushed for their 14-day mandatory quarantine and the OFWs were closely escorted from the port to the hotel in Cebu City where they are being subjected to mandatory quarantine.

The governor said the 185 Cebu residents were subjected to Polymerise Chain Reaction (PCR) Test upon arrival at the port even though a Rapid Diagnostic Test were conducted in Manila prior to their voyage.

Garcia said these seafarers were negative of the coronavirus based on the “rapid tests.”

The PCR tests in Cebu, however, showed that they are in fact infected with the virus.

Garcia said the incident solidified her resolve to scrap the use of “Rapid Tests” for Cebu province and instead use the more accurate PCR test for COVID-19.

She said when the next batches of returning OFWs will arrive in Cebu, the same PCR tests will be done including the 14-day mandatory quarantine.

JPV