ALL the repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Bacolod City will undergo a diagnostic test for the novel coronavirus after four of them were found positive for antibodies.
Bacolod City Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran on Friday, May 1, said four of the 28 repatriated Bacolodnon OFWs tested positive in the rapid antibody test, which indicates that they were infected although not necessarily with the novel coronavirus.
Nasopharyngeal swabs from the four OFWs will be sent to the laboratory in Iloilo City for an RT-PCR test to detect the presence of the novel coronavirus, which causes the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
“Let’s wait for the result of the swab test if they are positive for the coronavirus,” said Familiaran, chairman of Bacolod City Inter-Agency against Covid-19.
The four OFWs, who were asymptomatic, have been moved to an isolation area.
On Tuesday evening, 28 Bacolodnon OFWs returned to Bacolod City and were brought to the Graciano Lopez Jaena Elementary School for the mandatory 14-day quarantine.
The repatriated OFWs appealed to the local government officials to provide them with livable and decent quarantine centers that have passed the Department of Health (DOH) and Bureau of Quarantine standards.
Familiaran said there’s a DOH circular that the local government unit should prepare the quarantine center.
“So, with that executive order we followed it, but only to find out that the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) will shoulder their hotel accommodations,” he said.
OWWA earlier assured the City Government of Bacolod that they will handle the hotel accommodations of OFWs who are required to undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine period for Covid-19.
The city officials also held a meeting with the repatriated OFWs to address their problem.
This was the first batch of returning OFWs directly received by the city government, through the Action Team on Returning OFWs (ATRO), created by Mayor Evelio Leonardia and chaired by Councilor Israel Salanga.