(Eagle News) – There are still 35 Filipinos out of the 67 OFWs who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Singapore who are still admitted in various hospitals in the city-state, according to the Philippine Ambassador in Singapore, H.E. Joseph del Mar Yap.
In an interview with EBC-NET25 program “ASEAN in Focus,” Ambassador Yap gave an update of the situation of overseas Filipinos in Singapore.
“As of yesterday, we have 67 OFWs who have been diagnosed positive for coronavirus. So 32 of them have actually been discharged and 35 are still in the hospitals,” he said on Wednesday, April 29.
-Amb. Yap: Most OFWs not staying in migrant worker dormitories-
Ambassador Yap, however, assured that there are “very, very few Filipinos” who are living or staying in the migrant worker dorms that have been reported to be the source of COVID-19 case spikes in Singapore.
Singapore is currently the country with the most number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia because of the recent spiral in virus cases in these dormitories for migrant workers.
As of the latest data from Johns Hopkins University, Singapore has recorded a total of 15,641 cases with 14 deaths.
The Philippine ambassador explained that most of the migrant workers living in these migrant worker dormitories are Indians or Bangladeshis who are working in the construction, sanitation and garbage collection services there.
“Most of the time, our OFWs do not work in that sector,” Ambassador Yap said in an interview by ASEAN in Focus anchor Alma Angeles.
“But there are still a few cases of OFWs staying in the dorm. So I think out of the 67 we have, there are about four or five of them that are linked to these dormitories,” he said.
-PHL Embassy coordinating with Singapore’s health ministry on OFWs’ condition-
Philippine embassy staff and officials cannot also visit overseas Filipinos who are infected with the virus, but that they just coordinate with the Singapore Ministry of Health regularly to check on their situation.
Some of the Filipinos in the hospitals also call them up.
“Most of the time, they are bored,” he said.
“All of our cases, hindi naman serious cases,” Ambassador Yap said.
If they are clinically well, meaning if they don’t exhibit symptoms even if they have tested positive, they will still remain in isolation, and have to test negative twice before they can be released, he said.
Ambassador Yap said that the Philippine embassy in Singapore maintain hotlines which overseas Filipinos can call for emergencies.
He noted that Filipinos there follow the strict rules on quarantine being implemented by the Singaporean government.
-Circuit breaker measures-
Singapore is implementing the so-called “circuit breaker” measures where people are required to wear face masks when going out of their homes.
They can only go out to buy food and other essential items.
“Actually, they passed a law a few weeks back, that you cannot have social contact with someone who is not your immediate family member who is living with you. So you cannot even visit a friend, kahit dalawa lang kayo, one-on-one bawal yun,” the ambassador explained.
Because of the strict “circuit breaker rules”, the Philippine embassy in Singapore is forced to adjust work procedure, he said, so tha only a skeletal workforce remain in the embassy for emergency cases.
Most of the people in the embassy are forced to work from home.
He said that healthwise, Singapore has a very good process.
“They have about 300 GP clinics spread out all over the country. If you feel unwell, go to GP clinics muna. The clinics, the doctor will evaluate you, and ask you to take a COVID-19 test,” he said.
More of these clinics are able to do the COVID-19 tests, he said.
Ambassador Yap said that if the results come in positive, they will then call an ambulance and pick up the infected person so he can be brought to a hospital for treatment.
All those who tested positive are brought either in hospitals or in isolation centers, he said.
Of the 14,951 COVID-19 cases in Singapore, he said, only 21 are in ICU.
“It’s a very small number,” he said.
In Singapore, at least 1,889 patients are in hospitals, while some 12,000 are in isolated facilities, the Ambassador said.
Most have no symptoms, and are just waiting for their repeat test results.
(Eagle News Service)
