The Philippines is currently studying the possibility of including overseas Filipino workers in the travel restrictions currently in place for 21 countries with confirmed cases of the new coronavirus strain.
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III revealed that there is a recommendation to the country’s Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) regarding the travel restriction for OFWs from select countries.
“There is a move, probably a total restriction on travel to the Philippines. Right now, if the traveler is coming from the 21 countries, he will not be allowed to enter. The only exemption if you’re an OFW but there is a move that even OFWs will be included but it’s still being studied,” said Sec. Bello.
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The Labor Secretary furthered that the likelihood of the travel ban for OFWs may increase if an OFW contracts the new COVID strain.
“It might result into that since at present, they are exempted from the restriction. But, if ever, there is a report that an OFW is contaminated by the Covid variant this might be a factor, that moves the IATF to consider including them in the restriction,” Bello said.
He added that so far, they have not received any report that an OFW has been infected with the new variant, as per reports from the Philippine News Agency.
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“So far, we have not received such report. We have a specific number of OFWs contaminated by Covid-19 but we have no number of Filipino overseas worker who were contaminated with the Covid variant,” said Sec. Bello.
The country is currently not accepting travelers from the United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Australia, Israel, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, Switzerland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Lebanon, Singapore, Sweden, South Korea. South Africa, Canada, and Spain.
