Some 42,000 Filipino migrant workers who are expected to return home between May and June could overwhelm the country’s isolation facilities, the chief implementer of the Philippine government’s COVID-19 response warned Tuesday.
National Task Force COVID-19 Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. reported that there are already more than 27,000 OFWs currently in different isolation hubs in Metro Manila.
Earlier, repatriated OFWs have reportedly complained of having to endure a longer stay in the quarantine facilities beyond the mandatory 14-day isolation period due to the delay in their COVID-19 test results.
The government has already vowed to act of the OFWs’ complaint.
Galvez also vowed to look into the issue to give room for more Filipinos who are set to return home.
The government has started converting massive convention centres and sports facilities to serve as quarantine facilities for OFWs and suspected COVID-19 patients.
It also tapped some private hotels and commissioned passenger ships to serve as floating quarantine facilities.
Around 30,000 OFWs who have returned to the country have been tested through a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machine, Galvez said.
Of the 22,432 results that have been released, 465 were positive, he added. (Source: INQUIRER.net)