Government studying stricter travel restrictions

MANILA, Philippines — With the looming shortage of quarantine facilities, the government is considering barring the entry of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) coming from countries with confirmed cases of the new COVID-19 variant.

“It’s a possibility that restriction will also apply to OFWs, considering that the new COVID variant is highly infectious,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said at a virtual briefing yesterday.

Bello noted that the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) is also worried about the shortage of quarantine facilities for OFWs.

“I just had a meeting with OWWA administrator Hans Cacdac and he is apprehensive that we’ve run out of quarantine because we are repatriating at least 1,000 to a maximum of 3,500 OFWs a day,” Bello disclosed.

Bello said OWWA is mandated to also provide quarantine facilities for vacationing OFWs coming from countries with new COVID variant.

The government has exempted OFWs from the restriction on travelers coming from countries with the new SARS-CoV-2 strain. However, they are required to undergo a 14-day quarantine.

The labor chief said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) is now studying the possible inclusion of OFWs in the new restriction. Any decision of the IATF will be submitted to President Duterte for approval. He said the IATF is likely to recommend the inclusion of OFWs if the new COVID-19 strain affects any of them.

But Bello stressed there is no report so far of OFWs catching the new COVID-19 strain.

“We have a specific number of OFWs contaminated by COVID-19 but we don’t have the number of Filipino overseas workers who were contaminated with the COVID variant,” he said.

Based on DOLE data, over 11,000 OFWs have been infected with COVID. Most have recovered, but 876 have died from the illness.

Stranded OFWs

Bello also said over 50,000 displaced OFWs are stranded abroad. “We could have brought them home but some countries imposed lockdown like Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia so there’s no plane even if we are ready to repatriate them,” he said.

Since the onset of the pandemic, Bello said the Philippine government has repatriated 396,000 of the over 526, 000 displaced OFWs.

He said some OFWs refused to be repatriated.

“Especially in Europe, OFWs opted to stay to enjoy the unemployment insurance given to displaced workers for a year. They are waiting for the situation to improve, in the meantime they are earning from the unemployment insurance,” Bello pointed out.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said a total 327,511 OFWs have been repatriated since the start of COVID-19 repatriation flights in 2020. The DFA mounted its first COVID-19 repatriation flight to Wuhan, China on Feb. 9 last year.

According to the DFA, land-based repatriates make up 231,537 or 70.7 percent of the total, coming from at least 90 countries and territories around the world. The remaining 29.3 percent or 95,974 are seafarers from more than 150 cruise ships, oil tankers and other bulk vessels.

Genome testing procedure

Meanwhile, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said swab samples from some local cases of COVID-19 have been included in the genome sequencing being conducted by the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) to determine if the new variant from the United Kingdom is already in the country.

The PGC has started the process of genome sequencing, she said.

She, however, revealed that the procedure does not only cover travelers from countries with recorded UK variant.

“Existing patients from the target population in November and December have been included in the genome sequencing. We want to see if the variant is already in our country,” she added.

These local patients are those from the vulnerable population, closed institutions, hospitals and other high-risk sectors.

Vergeire underscored that swab samples were taken only from those who tested positive for COVID-19.

She said that “parallel” collections of swab samples were done for the travelers – one for COVID-19 screening and the other for PGC genome sequencing. The DOH is expecting the initial results to be out by tomorrow or Thursday.

She also said they were able to confirm the presence of the new variant only in six of the 21 countries earlier reported to have it. She said this was because the “focal persons” of the other countries have not responded to DOH inquiries.

She added the DOH has been coordinating with the World Health Organization regarding the list of countries affected by the new variant.

As fears mount over the new COVID-19 strain, Sen. Bong Go has appealed again to authorities for stricter enforcement of health protocols and travel restrictions.

“There is news that the new strain of COVID-19 has spread even more across the globe. Let us not allow this new strain to reach our country,” Go said.

“The faster this disease spreads, the faster we must act to protect the lives of every Filipino. Let’s learn from what we went through last year. I told you, lessons have been learned,” he added.

Go emphasized the need for authorities to constantly monitor developments in other countries. “The policies we implement need to be regularly reviewed. Don’t let the disease outrun us,” he said.

“As we do everything we can to overcome the crisis and provide a safe vaccine to our countrymen, we must also do our best to prevent the new strain of COVID-19 from adding to our problem,” he maintained.

Go also reminded the public to continue complying with health protocols as advised by the government.

“We just follow the rules to prevent the spread of the disease – wear masks and face shields, wash hands, observe social distancing and avoid unnecessary travels,” he said. — Sheila Crisostomo, Pia Lee-Brago, Cecille Suerte Felipe