OWWA repatriated over 65K COVID-affected OFWs
THE Overseas Workers Welfare Administration reported that a total of 654,546 overseas Filipino workers were repatriated amid the global threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said the general rule for returning OFWs is for them to stay in hotel quarantine facilities for 10 days.
“They will undergo a swab test on the seventh day, and will be allowed to leave the isolation facility upon being tested negative on the 10th day,” he said.
However, Cacdac said OFWs who came from travel-restricted countries will still undergo a 14-day quarantine. Travel-restricted countries include the UAE, Oman, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal.
Another exception is if an individual is fully vaccinated and came from the 36 countries under the “green list” of the IATF. They will be under quarantine for seven days.
Those under the seven-day quarantine period will undergo RT-PCR test on the fifth day and will be allowed to leave the facility on the seventh day if they get negative results for coronavirus.
The countries included in the revised “green” list are the following: Albania, American Samoa, Anguilla, Australia, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Chad, China, Comoros, Cote d’ Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Falkland Islands, Gabon, Grenada, Hong Kong, Hungary, Mali, Federated States of Micronesia, Montserrat (British Overseas Territory), New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Poland, Romania, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Slovakia, Sudan and Taiwan.
The task force earlier issued health guidelines for vaccinated travelers who stayed in these “green” countries, including a seven-day quarantine at a facility instead of the usual 10 days, upon arrival in the Philippines.
