FIVE overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Cebu who arrived in Cebu City from Metro Manila on Tuesday, April 28, 2020, tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
This was announced by Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia during a press conference on Friday, May 1.
These OFWs are residents of Barangay Colon in Naga City, Barangay Sacsac in Consolacion, Barangay Poblacion in Liloan, Barangay Looc in Danao City and Barangay Maya in Daanbantayan.
These OFWs are still in Cebu City as they are undergoing a 14-day quarantine. Last April 28, 291 OFWs arrived in Cebu City and 243 Cebuano overseas workers were brought to three hotels in the city for the quarantine. The 48 Boholano overseas workers were ferried to Tagbilaran City on the same day.
Before they arrived in Cebu City, the OFWs had undergone a 14-day quarantine in Metro Manila. All of them tested negative of Covid-19 during rapid diagnostic testing, according to Garcia.
All the OFWs will undergo another 14-day quarantine after they will complete their 14-day quarantine in Cebu City as this was agreed upon by Garcia and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) during an emergency meeting last April 27.
During the new 14-day quarantine, swab samples will be taken from the OFWs that will be tested at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City.
Rapid test
The Central Visayas OFWs stranded in Metro Manila had undergone rapid testing for Covid-19, not the swab testing, before they were allowed to board a ship bound for Cebu City, said Marc Anthony Pascua, director of the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) 7.
The rapid testing was administered by doctors and nurses of the Philippine Coast Guard. The Department of Health (DOH) earlier cautioned that rapid antibody tests may not give an accurate result.
Pascua said the April 28 trip was a project of the Owwa and the Department of Transportation through the Marina central office.
After the quarantine period in Metro Manila was over, the Central Visayas OFWs were cleared by the DOH-Bureau of Quarantine. The rapid testing was conducted outside the ship and the OFWs who tested negative were allowed to go aboard.
No worries
Garcia said the residents in the cities of Naga and Danao, and the municipalities of Consolacion, Liloan and Daanbantayan need not worry as the five OFWs were already isolated.
The five OFWs and two others—one each from Minglanilla and Talisay City—were the seven new Covid-19 cases in Cebu Province reported on May 1, bringing the total confirmed cases in the province to 33.
The new case in Minglanilla brought the total Covid-19 cases in that town to three. The third patient is a doctor living in Barangay Linao-Lipata. (More details on page 4.)
Cebu City cases
On May 1, Cebu City recorded 30 confirmed Covid-19 cases, bringing the total cases in the city to 760 with seven deaths and 21 laboratory negative.
Of the 30 new cases, two were from Barangay Apas; two from Barangay Lahug; one from Tanguile, Barangay Busay; two from Barangay Punta Princesa; one from Barangay Bulacao Pardo; four from Tinabangay, Barangay Mambaling; two from Barangay Suba; seven from Barangay Luz; one from Calumpang, Barangay Inayawan; one from Nasipit, Barangay Talamban; four from Cabajar, Barangay Guadalupe; one from Juana Osmeña St. in Barangay Kamputhaw; one from Sitio Negative, Barangay Carreta; and one from Cebu City Jail.
Based on the updates from Cebu City Health Department (CHD), the Covid-19 patients from Apas were from Sitio BACA and PC Hills.
In Lahug, the cases were from Nivel Hills and Sunset Drive. Lahug Barangay Captain Hazel Ann Empleo said the one patient identified as a resident from Nivel Hills is one of the OFWs who arrived in Cebu last April 28.
Empleo emphasized that the OFW has not yet arrived in Lahug as the latter is still undergoing quarantine in one of three hotels in Cebu City. For the other cases, Empleo said they will trace the persons exposed to them.
Busay Barangay Captain Maria Christina Famador said the CHD has yet to relay the information on the Covid-19 case in Tanguile.
The cases from Punta Princesa were from Tres de Abril. These were the first reported cases from the village.
Punta Princesa Barangay Captain Eleno Andales Jr. said he will coordinate with the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office to investigate on the new cases.
In Luz, four came from Sitio Sto. Niño while three from Sitio San Vicente. The barangay now has 193 Covid-19 patients.
In Cebu City Jail, there were already 333 persons deprived of liberty and jail officers infected with Covid-19.
Mandaue City cases
Nine new Covid-19 cases were recorded in Mandaue City on May 1, bringing the total cases in the city to 28.
The new Covid-19 cases were the nine inmates of the Mandaue City Jail in Sitio Superior, Barangay Looc. They were showing mild symptoms and they were transferred to the city jail’s new facility in Barangay Basak which has been converted into a quarantine facility. (ANV, WBS, JJL, JCT & KFD)