401 OFWs arrive in Cebu City; 374 more to come from Manila
CEBU CITY –– At least 400 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), who were stranded in Manila due to travel restrictions to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), arrived in the port of Cebu City about 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.
Lt. Junior Grade Erick Salcedo, spokesperson of the Philippine Coast Guard in Central Visayas, said this was the third batch of repatriated OFWs to arrive in Cebu.
Of the 401 OFWs onboard MV St. Michael the Archangel of 2Go Shipping, 253 were residents of Cebu, 33 of Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental, 73 of Ozamiz City, six of Iligan City, and 36 of Zamboanga City.
Those from Cebu disembarked from the ship at Pier 5 and would undergo a 14-day quarantine as part of the health protocol to make sure they won’t become carriers of the virus.
Before being brought to the isolation facility, medical officers took swab samples of the returning OFWs for testing.
The other OFWs will proceed to their respective destinations.
Salcedo said another batch of OFWs were set to arrive in Cebu on Saturday afternoon.
Onboard the MV St. Francis Xavier ship are 374 OFWs, of which 209 are from Cebu, 90 from Cagayan de Oro City, and 75 from Butuan City.
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