PNoy orders evacuation of OFWs in Ebola-hit countries

2014 West Africa Ebola virus outbreak situation map. Photo from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention / Wikimedia Commons.

MANILA – President Aquino has ordered the evacuation of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in West African countries hit by Ebola.

While the Department of Health (DOH) is yet to identify which area in the Philippines will the OFWs be quarantined, DOH spokesperson Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy said that it will not be in Caballo Island.

Several United Nations (UN) peacekeepers from Ebola-hit Liberia is now being quarantined in the island.

“We have not really identified the specific area where we will quarantine them but definitely we’re looking at the place wherein the place would be comfortable enough for them,” Lee Suy said.

Suy however confiremed that the quarantine place for the OFWs will be in Metro Manila.

He added that only 21 days is needed to quarantine the workers and determine whether they are positively infected with the Ebola virus.

“If within 21 days they do not show any signs or symptoms, we can safely say they do not have Ebola,” Lee Suy said.

“If they do show signs with 21 days just like we did with this UN peacekeeping troop who showed fever, that of course will have to be subjected to testing as well,” he added.