MANILA, Philippines — Filipino migrant workers are now allowed to return to their jobs in Hong Kong and Macau, Malacañang announced Tuesday.
This, after the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases decided to exempt OFWs returning to Hong Kong and Macau from the outward travel ban imposed by the government to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus disease in the country.
“Those OFWs going back would have to make written declaration that they know the risk of going back to their place of work,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.
In a tweet, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Brigido Dulay said the Filipino workers bound for Hong Kong and Macau will be “subject to certain procedural formalities.”
Today, DFA Sec Locsin’s advocacy has come true. OFWs returning for work in Hongkong and Macau have been exempted from the outbound travel ban by the IATF-EID, subject to certain procedural formalities. Woohoo!! @teddyboylocsin
— Dodo Dulay (@dododulay) February 18, 2020
Thousands of migrant workers have been stranded in the Philippines after President Rodrigo Duterte imposed travel restrictions on mainland China, including its special administrative regions Hong Kong and Macau.
The coronavirus disease that emerged in
central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year has spread to nearly 30 locations. It has infected
more than 72,000 people and killed over 1,800.
Fifty-eight people have been infected in Hong Kong, including one death—the second fatality outside mainland China. In Macau, 10 people tested positive for the illness. — Gaea Katreena Cabico with report from The STAR