OFWs from countries with 'low, medium' COVID-19 prevalence no longer required to quarantine, test
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will no longer require its returning workers from countries with low to medium prevalence of coronavirus infections to undergo quarantine or be tested for the virus upon arrival, in a bid to "rationalize protocols" that cause delays in its virus response.
The health department had required OFWs coming home to the country to undergo the prescribe 14-day quarantine and test negative first for COVID-19 before they are allowed to return to their city or province.
Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, however, said updated government guidelines will now allow workers from the particular nations to directly go home, provided that they still observe minimum health protocols as well as those set by their local governments.
"If a returning OFW is from a low prevalence area abroad, he could be checked for symptoms for the past 14 days and if there are none, he would be allowed to travel to his province," the health official said in mixed Filipino and English in a press briefing.
Vergeire said the move was born out consultation with experts who agreed on the matter, as they said returning migrant workers will have had to be tested too in countries where they work before being sent home.
"The probability of an individual to have that certain disease when they arrive here is small as they are tested before they leave," she said. "Most of these OFWs bring with them as well their RT-PCR results which are two to three days prior to their travel."
"That's really to rationalize the protocols so that they are not redundant as these also results in bottlenecks," Vergeire added.
The Philippines has 359,169 coronavirus cases as of Monday, October 19, with some 2,638 new cases reported today. Fatalities have reached 6,675, while recoveries are now at 310,303.
Local governments, border personnel's role
The health official, however, said "balikbayans" will still have to comply with standards which may be set by local governments before they are allowed to enter in their respective areas.
Vergeire noted that cities and provinces have ramped up their screenings before allowing persons to enter, months since the pandemic hit the country.
"We also emphasize that LGUs, whatever their protocols are such as tests or quarantine, they would be the ones responsibile to screen those in their borders," she said.
She added that in-charge personnel would also include primarily those tasked to secure the country's borders, such as immigration personnel and the bureau of quarantine.
Unrelated to Red Cross-PhilHealth issue
Vergeire added that the move is not linked from the Philippine Red Cross' recent pronouncement that it is halting its COVID-19 tests funded by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. over some P930 million of unpaid debt by the state insurer.
Returning OFWs and those in airports and seaports are among the many which Red Cross said it will no longer receive specimens from, as it will need PhilHealth's overdue amounts for buying kits and reagents from Beijing.
The health official said that certain accredited laboratories across the country have been tapped to shoulder the supposed load of Red Cross while officials between the two parties try to resolve the matter. Red Cross has run over a million coronavirus tests out of the four million that the country has tested so far, leading the number of screenings even far from government testing laboratories.
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