More Than 10000 Filipinos Including Seafarers Returned Home With Coronavirus

From February 9th, 2020 to November 17th, 2020, about 10,333 returning overseas Filipinos including mostly land-based migrants (6,486) and seafarers (3,847), repatriated by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) were confirmed to have been infected by SARS-CoV-2, shows data from the Department of Health.

During a national migrant health conference that took place online on Monday, DOH’s Bureau of International Health Cooperation (BIHC) reported the death of six of these returning overseas Filipinos. The Director of BIHC, Dr. Maria Soledad Antonio, informed that 9,920 of the returning migrants have recovered as of November 17.

601,460 returning overseas Filipinos were also tallied during the same ten-month time frame by BIHC, and as of November 17, a total of only 3,811 remain in quarantine facilities. Referred to as “transferees from Sabah”, 1,986 of them were deported irregular migrant Filipinos in Sabah, Malaysia.

As of November 17, 254,785 migrant workers have been repatriated through 55 chartered flights. They were from over 80 countries and 135 ships, reports Executive Director of DFA’s Office for Migrant Workers Affairs, Iric Arribas. Among them, over 81,000 are seafarers while 173,000 are land-based migrant workers.

Out of 10,333, the number of confirmed cases as per IHR is 9,973 and, that 9,973 is classified as COVID-19 cases among returning overseas Filipinos “detected in points of entry”.

DOH tallied that in the same 10-month time frame 324 Filipinos died of “COVID-19 related” causes and their remains were flown home along with other 1,749 deceased Filipinos. Additionally, over 111,000 Filipino workers will be repatriated before the new year.

DOH also reported the COVID-19 positivity and recovery rates among these returning overseas Filipinos. As of November 17, the positivity and recovery rates among these returning overseas Filipinos are 1.93% and 95.99%, respectively.

Reference: philstar.com