RETURNING overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and overseas Filipinos need to stay longer in isolation facilities upon their arrival in the country as the government needs more time to complete their screening process, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said yesterday.
Roque noted that polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests are now administered six days after the OFWs and OFs arrive in the country.
He added the release of the results now takes longer because positive feedbacks are still subjected to sequencing to determine what virus variant infected the OFWs or OFs.
Roque said Health Secretary Francisco Duque III has reported that they are being stricter now about the entry of OFWs and OFs because they want to avoid the spread of more COVID-19 United Kingdom, South African and Brazil variant cases.
“As much as we want to return to the practice of doing PCR test a day after arrival and release the OFWs if they tested negative, it is more important for use to prevent the entry of the new variants which are more infectious,” he said.
OFWs stay in government isolation facilities for free while OFs pay for their own room in a government-accredited isolation facility.
As of April 20, the DOH has recorded 953,106 cases of COVID-19 cases in the country, with 12,006 active cases, 809,959 recovered and 16,141 deaths. The country recorded 7,379 new cases yesterday.
