Two more OFWs under mandatory quarantine

CEBU, Philippines - Apart from the 62-year-old mining supervisor from Sierra Leone who is about to be released, Central Visayas health authorities have placed two more overseas Filipino workers from West Africa under mandatory 21-day quarantine.

According to Department of Health-7 regional Ebola spokesperson Dr. Dino Caing, the two work as accountants in Liberia, West Africa and arrived in Cebu December 16.

“With the vigilance of our Bureau of Quarantine-7 headed by Dr. Emmanuel Labella, we were able to intercept two OFWs from Liberia. They were asymptomatic but we made them understand that they have to undergo mandatory quarantine to make sure Ebola does not enter the country and endanger the lives of Filipinos,” Caing said.

He added that Central Visayas health authorities are being extra vigilant in detecting passengers from neighboring Asian countries as some OFWs tend to forget to disclose their port of origin.

The latest OFWs considered persons under investigation (PUI) for Ebola left Liberia airport to Casa Blanca in Morocco, then to Dubai in United Arab Emirates, before taking the Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to Cebu flight.

“If our BOQ officials were not vigilant enough to check the passport and the travel history apart from the disclosed Kuala Lumpur trip, the two could be addition to statistics of OFWs from West Africa who escaped mandatory quarantine,” said Caing.

The 25-year-old female and 29-year-old male OFWs do not work for the same company but were staying in one building where they both work as accountants.

“These two work in the office, different companies but the same building which is quite far from where Ebola is widespread in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. They were not allowed by their employers to visit areas with Ebola ca-ses,” Caing explained.

Like Sierra Leone, Liberia has been placed by the World Health Organization under alert level 2 on the deadly Ebola virus.

But Liberia does not have a mandatory 21 days quarantine period as opposed to Sierra Leone where the OFW’s employer placed the Filipino worker on qua-rantine complete with certification.

Caing said that unlike the first OFW from Sierra Leone who is about to be released from quarantine before Christmas, the two will spend both Christmas and New Year in the government facility under close monitoring of DOH and will most likely be released first week of January 2015.

All three PUIs have been allowed family visitation as none of them display symptoms of Ebola like fever and weakness but must maintain one meter distance and wear protective face mask.

While under mandatory quarantine, PUIs are provi-ded for free basic needs like food, cable television, WiFi connection, and laundry.

The latest two PUIs will momentarily be prohibited from returning to Liberia as dispersal of OFWs is currently banned by the national government due to the Ebola threat.

“The drawback of our situation is that some OFWs in West Africa will be discouraged from going home because of the mandatory quarantine and the ban of dispersal to these countries,” Caing said.

Based on Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, there are more than 3,000 documented Filipinos currently working in West Africa, 16 of whom are from Central Visayas. — Jessa J. Agua/NSA (FREEMAN)