Palace: Gov't assisting Hong Kong OFWs who contracted COVID-19
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines said Monday it is extending assistance to overseas Filipino workers who tested positive for COVID-19 amid a surge in infections in Hong Kong.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in the Chinese financial hub provided 28 coronavirus-stricken migrant workers with food, hygiene kits and power banks “to allow them to communicate while waiting for calls” from Hong Kong authorities.
He added that POLO is working with a non-government organization and the Hong Kong Labor Department to provide an isolation facility to accommodate OFWs.
Some of Hong Kong’s foreign domestic workers had been sacked by employers after testing positive for COVID-19, forcing them to sleep outdoors. Others had been denied treatment at hospitals.
Nograles also said the labor office provided $200 (around P10,000) after-care financial assistance to those who recovered from COVID-19. Another $200 will be given to each COVID-19-positive OFW by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.
According to the Palace official, five migrant workers in Hong Kong have already recovered, three of whom have returned to their employers.
Consul General Raly Tejada told TeleRadyo Sunday the Philippines will "blacklist" employers who fired Filipino workers who contracted the respiratory disease.
A coronavirus wave driven by the highly infectious Omicron variant is currently sweeping the city, which is a Special Administrative Region of China. — Gaea Katreena Cabico with report from Agence France-Presse
- Latest
- Trending
