NINETY-SIX persons previously stranded in Metro Manila who were eventually brought to their provinces by the government tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), National Task Force on the COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. said late Monday night.
Galvez, in his report to President Duterte, said 66 of locally stranded individuals (SLIs) tested positive for the virus when they arrived in Eastern Visayas while the other 30 tested positive after they arrived in Lanao province.
“It was brought about by the LSIs, the locally stranded individuals. Upon their arrival they were tested, we have two testing centers in Region VIII, they were subjected to PCR tests and 66 were positive,” he said.
Those who tested positive were immediately isolated and attended by medical frontliners.
The other LSIs that were exposed are expected to undergo a 14-day self-quarantine.
Galvez said the different provinces had been preparing and strengthening their testing and critical treatment capacities to prevent the entry and eventually the spread of the coronavirus in their jurisdictions.
Galvez also said some 5,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are set to be repatriated from Malaysia from the last week of June to July. He said many of the OFWS had been stranded in Malaysia for some time now.
He said a one-stop shop is being prepared in Zamboanga City in anticipation of the arrival of the OFWs. The one stop shops aims to ensure the speedy arrangement for the testing of the OFWS, the release of the certifications and test results and their transportation back to their provinces.
The President had ordered that OFWs should be allowed to go straight to their provinces and undergo rapid test and quarantine there to avoid being stranded in Metro Manila.
1K OFWS BACK HOME
More than 1,000 OFWs from the Middle East arrived in Manila in three batches late Monday, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
The DOLE said a total of 1,143 OFWs from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Lebanon arrived home on three chartered flights.
Upon their arrival, the OFWs were welcomed by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration repatriation team and subjected to COVID-19 tests.
If they test negative, OWWA will provide them transportation assistance to their provinces in coordination with local government units. — With Gerard Naval