MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte is not inclined to relax the testing and quarantine protocols for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), saying COVID-19 can be transmitted easily.
In a meeting with Duterte and other officials yesterday, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said returning OFWs should undergo swab test immediately and then quarantined for five days while waiting for the results. He said returning workers have long missed their homes.
Infectious disease expert Edsel Salvana, who attended the meeting virtually, noted that variants of concern have come into the country through returning travelers.
Salvana said there is data suggesting that the quarantine period can be shortened from 14 days to 10 days as long as the person does not exhibit COVID-19 symptoms.
Duterte, however, said he is not comfortable with easing the protocols.
“I cannot compromise, especially now. Maybe in other disease like rabies. But this, it can be contracted here and there,” the President said in Filipino.
“Unless there is something more than just what I am hearing now and previously, I must also be convinced...I am quite not comfortable with the relaxation (of quarantine protocols) that’s being brought about. Let us see,” he added.