{"id":255808,"date":"2020-05-22T07:11:46","date_gmt":"2020-05-22T11:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=255808"},"modified":"2020-05-22T07:11:46","modified_gmt":"2020-05-22T11:11:46","slug":"stringent-measures-in-place-vs-covid-19-imported-transmission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/05\/22\/stringent-measures-in-place-vs-covid-19-imported-transmission\/","title":{"rendered":"Stringent measures in place vs. Covid-19 imported transmission"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Galvez, who is also Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, said the government wants to ensure the second wave of Covid-19 infections with the so-called “imported transmission” will be prevented amid the influx of the repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), seafarers and returning Filipinos in the country. (PIA file photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The government is preparing to implement stringent health protocols and prevention measures against an imported transmission of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in the country, National Action Plan (NAP) against Covid-19 Chief implementer, Carlito Galvez Jr., said on Friday.<\/p>\n

“Nakikita po natin na itong<\/em>\u00a0first wave\u00a0ay nakuha sa<\/em>\u00a0local transmission since\u00a0nung pinatupad natin ang<\/em>\u00a0Inter-Agency task force\u00a0noong<\/em>\u00a0January (We are seeing that the first wave came from the local transmission since we enforced the inter-agency task force on January), at the same time,\u00a0hanggang ngayon po nilalabanan pa rin natin ang<\/em>\u00a0local transmission (we are still battling with this local transmission),” he said in a virtual press briefing.<\/p>\n

Galvez, who is also Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, said the government wants to ensure the second wave of Covid-19 infections with the so-called “imported transmission” will be prevented amid the influx of the repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), seafarers and returning Filipinos in the country.<\/p>\n

“Sa nakikita natin ngayon ang ating<\/em>\u00a0OFWs (As we can see with our OFWs), we are receiving more than 30,000 and they came from Covid-19 affected areas such as US, Italy, Spain and in other parts of the Middle East,” he said, noting that the special task group on overseas repatriation handles the Covid-19 preventive measures.<\/p>\n

Galvez reported the government has already tested around 30,000 incoming OFWs and seafarers.<\/p>\n

He said more or less 600 of them have tested positive with Covid-19 and sent to government-designated quarantine facilities for isolation.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Galvez said the government only allows inbound flights for OFWs, seafarers, and returning Filipinos in the country.<\/p>\n

The country, he said, still implements controlled and limited domestic flights.<\/p>\n

A one-stop-shop has been set up at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminals 1 and 2, he said.<\/p>\n

All returning Filipinos from abroad, he said, are immediately being swabbed upon entry and isolated for a 14-day quarantine period.<\/p>\n

“We can only allow travel if these stringent protocols are in place,” he said, adding that the country cannot do the usual travel operations during the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

He said the spike on Covid-19 cases is due to the so-called importation from travel.<\/p>\n

“Magiging<\/em>\u00a0vulnerable\u00a0po tayo kapag ang ating<\/em>\u00a0airports\u00a0ay<\/em>\u00a0unregulated (we might become vulnerable from coronavirus if the airports are unregulated),” he said.<\/p>\n

Initially, there are around 4,000 regulated inbound travelers affected in NAIA, he said.<\/p>\n

He said NTF chairperson and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has already ordered the task force to unclog quarantine facilities in Metro Manila within two weeks.<\/p>\n

“We will gradually lift our entry quota of at least 1,000 returning Filipinos a day if we were able to de-clog these quarantine facilities. We will do our best to hasten the process,” he added.<\/p>\n

Galvez earlier said the Department of Transportation (DOTr), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), and Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), were instructed to release OFWs who have already tested negative of Covid-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to decongest our quarantine facilities and prevent them from being overwhelmed by the huge number of returning OFWs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that the government is supporting the necessities of these returning Filipinos, OFWs, and seafarers.<\/p>\n

Galvez said the government also sees the possibility “to provide cash assistance to these OFWs (so) that they can at least prepare a new life when they return to their hometowns”.<\/p>\n

There are 30,000 returning Filipinos who have already arrived, he said.<\/p>\n

He added that an additional 42,000 OFWs are expected to arrive in the country this June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 The government is preparing to implement stringent health protocols and prevention measures against an imported transmission of the coronavirus …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":252615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-255808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-lade-jean-kabagani","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255808"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255815,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255808\/revisions\/255815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}