Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. has recommended the lifting of the travel ban on overseas Filipino workers, specifically household workers, following reports that there were no new confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 in the former Crown Colony over the weekend.
“Time to allow our domestic workers to return to their employers in Hong Kong. Eagerly awaited,” Locsin said in a tweet Saturday, adding that Hong Kong has better facilities to contain the virus.
Locsin said he promised to reconsider lifting the ban in “two weeks.”
Health authorities in Hong Kong confirmed there were no new cases found on Saturday but admitted they would need more time to monitor developments citywide.
“Although there are no new confirmed cases today because the incubation period of the pathogen can be up to 14 days or even longer, it’s hard to say if the outbreak has reached its peak. We still need to monitor the conditions for some time,” an official from Hong Kong’s Center for Health Protection said.
On Feb. 3, Locsin asked President Duterte to lift the temporary ban that the Chief Executive imposed on Filipino workers in China and its administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
“Let our OFWs return to the HK employers who treat them well,” Locsin said in a tweet he posted on Feb. 3.
The Foreign Affairs Secretary said the President assured him that “he will do something” about the temporary ban.
On Friday, Malacañang lifted the ban imposed on Taiwan after the government in Taipei angrily protested and threatened retaliatory measures. (Roy Mabasa)
