RETURNING locally stranded individuals (LSIs) are still welcome in Eastern Visayas amid the increasing number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in the region.

“Receiving po of LSI are ongoing, pero as per national, there are no longer LSIs. They are treated as returning residents po of the province already,” said Lord Byron Torrecarion, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and chairman of the Regional Task Force versus Covid-19.

“We at the Regional Task Force on Covid, we’d like to clarify that although there was a request for temporary suspension of LSIs, it was not acted upon by the National Inter-Agency Task Force and there is no suspension of LSIs as of this time for the region,” added Torrecarion in a report from the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) in the region on Saturday.

According to the official, Eastern Visayas has remained under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) while Tacloban City is under general community quarantine (GCQ).

Repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) also continued to arrive in the region through the DZR airport in Tacloban.

As of September 9 alone, the region welcomed another batch of 106 returning OFWs via Philippine Airlines.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH)- Eastern Visayas reported 21 new cases bringing the total number of Covid-19 cases at 3,759, with 3,044 (81 percent) recoveries and 685 (18.2 percent) active cases, as of Sunday evening, September 13. (SunStar Philippines)