AT LEAST 28 overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Hong Kong have tested positive for Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Of the infected OFWs, five have already recovered from Covid-19, the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson reported Monday, Feb. 21, 2022.
Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, has been fighting a surge of Covid-19 cases driven by the highly infectious Omicron variant.
The National Government, through its Philippine Overseas Labor Office (Polo) in Hong Kong, has been extending help to these OFWs by providing them food, hygiene kits and power banks to allow them to communicate while waiting for calls from the Center for Health Protection and Hong Kong Labour Department.
The Polo gave $200 (over P10,000) to the OFWs who have recovered from Covid-19 as an after-care assistance.
The government agency also coordinated with a non-government organization to provide an isolation facility to accommodate several OFWs.
The office also coordinated with the Hong Kong Labour Department, which set up an isolation facility for the OFWs, pending admission to the quarantine facility, apart from providing transportation arrangements, the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson reported.
Hong Kong has seen unprecedented scenes of patients waiting outside hospitals waiting for admission. It logged 7,533 Covid-19 infections on Monday, bringing the total number of cases in the former British colony to 60,363, the South China Morning Post reported.