Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) who have the chance to return to the Philippines need to undergo a rapid antibody testing to detect the coronavirus disease, according to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
Cabinet Secretary KarloNograles, IATF-EID spokesperson, said that all land and sea-based OFWs “shall be subject to rapid antibody testing for COVID-19 following Department Memorandum 2020-0180 issued by the Department of Health.”
Those sea-based Filipino workers onboard cruise ships will also undergo rapid antibody testing despite having a Clean Bill of Health from the Bureau of Quarantine and certificate of completion of the 14-day quarantine from their point of origin.
Upon their arrival in the Philippines, they will undergo mandatory testing and 14-day facility-based quarantine. These OFWs will be transported to different facilities to follow quarantine protocols or have a home-based quarantine, depends on the BOQ assessment.
According to the figures released by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), there are already 990 OFWs who contracted the disease from 42 countries all over the world. Out of the 990, 584 are still under treatment and 263 were discharged and recovering.
There are also 143 fatalities recorded as of the moment.
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