5 repatriated Cebuano OFWs positive of COVID-19

The 220 repatriated Cebuano OFWs started disembarking from the ship past 4 a.m. on Tuesday, April 28. | Alven Marie Timtim

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Five of the repatriated Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who arrived in Cebu last April 28 after being stranded in Metro Manila tested positive of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia made this announcement in a virtual press conference on Friday, May 1, 2020.

Garcia said the patients are part of the over 200 overseas workers who arrived on the island through a mercy voyage last April 28. They are the first batch of repatriated OFWs to arrive in Central Visayas.

The OFWs, who have been placed under quarantine upon arrival, will be transferred to their designated quarantine facilities, Garcia said.

The five come from the towns of Liloan (Barangay Poblacion), Daanbantayan (Barangay Maya), Danao City (Barangay Looc), Consolacion (Barangay Sacsac), and Naga City (Barangay Colon).

Before they boarded the ship that ferried them from Manila to Cebu on April 28, the repatriated overseas workers reportedly underwent rapid COVID-19 tests.

However, the Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) earlier warned that the use of rapid test kits could lead to false-negative results.

But as part of the prevailing health protocols from local government units here, government agencies here mandated them to be placed under quarantine for 14 days, and that swab tests were extracted from them.

Unlike rapid test kits, swab samples are sent to the subnational level laboratory at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) where polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines will examine them to detect any signs of COVID-19 infection. /rcg