Philippine overseas workers who were quarantined for weeks after returning home wait for flights back to their home cities around the country, at Manila’s international airport on May 28, 2020. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)
MANILA, Philippines — Over 2,300 of the country’s confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases came from repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday.
According to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, only 2,326 of the over 92,000 repatriated OFWs as of June 30 tested positive for COVID-19.
Vergeire said 1,213 of the infected OFWs are land-based workers, while the other 1,113 are sea-based workers.
All in all, the coronavirus infections among returning OFWs account for only 6% of the country’s total COVID-19 cases, which currently stands at 38,511.
Vergeire said that analysis suggests that the cases among repatriates comprise the majority of the new cases reported in the months of May and June.
“Ayon sa ginawang initial analysis, may mga indiskasyon na karamihan ng mga bagong kaso sa mga buwan ng Mayo at Hunyo ay dahil sa mga repatriates kumpara noong Marso at Abril na karamihan ay healthcare workers,” she said.
(According to the initial analysis, there are indications that most of the new cases during the months of May and June are due to repatriates compared to March and April when most were healthcare workers.)
Local officials have raised the alarm after recent cases of COVID-19 in the Visayas involved returning OFWs and residents stranded elsewhere or the so-called locally stranded individuals (LSIs).
The DOH, however, did not provide the data on COVID-19 cases among LSIs.
Malacañang had admitted that the government had been caught off-guard by the influx of returning residents and had been unable to prepare for them, unlike in the case of repatriated OFWs.
The government has already suspended the transit of LSIs in at least five places in the Visayas and Mindanao to address concerns of local officials about the spread of COVID-19 in their provinces.