Office of the President extends community quarantine in NCR, Calabarzon, other ‘high-risk’ regions

Based on the recommendations of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) Sub-Technical Working Group on Data Analytics in toto, the Office of the President today announced the further extension of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) (beyond the current 15-30 April) from 1st May to 15th May, 2020, inclusive, in the following high-risk administrative regions, provinces or areas:-

1. The National Capital Region (NCR);

2. Region III (Central Luzon);

3. Region IV-A (Calabarzon);

4. The Province of Pangasinan and

5. The Province of Benguet.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has been repatriating overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic; most of the 16,000 OFWs repatriated to date have been seafarers. A sub-task force group for repatriation of Filipino OFWs has been directed to come up with protocols for the management and surveillance of all repatriated OFWs, from their arrival in the Philippines and after the mandated period.

Last week five cruise ships with a combined total of Filipino seafarers on board in excess of 3,500, arrived in Philippine waters and temporarily docked near Sangley Point, north of Manila. The cruise ships - ‘Voyager of the Seas’, The Queen Elizabeth”, “Sun Princess”, Pacific Dawn” and “Pacific Explorer” - arrived from Australia, Indonesia and Japan, having been at sea since the start of the pandemic and unloading other nationals at various ports.. While the IATF had approved the entry of the cruise ships to the Port of Manila last week, as of time of writing they are awaiting the Philippine Coast Guard’s (PCG) clearance to dock at Piers 13 and 15 of the Port of Manila.