MANILA, Oct. 4 (UPC) – The Department of Labor is tracking COVID-19 cases at major Philippine labor destinations abroad, even as it has stepped up aid to foreign domestic workers affected by the pandemic, the Department of Labor said Sunday.
In separate reports to Secretary of Wild Labour Bello III, nearly 280,000 OFWs gained monetary assistance under the Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong (AKAP) through the Philippine 40 Foreign Labour Offices (POLO) and the Foreign Workers Protection Administration abroad.
As of 2 October, DOLE had distributed about 853 billion P2 in Akap’s budget and repatriated to OFW recipients. Akap approved 312,974 of the 637,873 requests for assistance obtained through the POLO and OWWA box offices.
In the Asia-Pacific region, POLO in Malaysia reported the continuation of the budget in the bank accounts of candidates approved by AKAP.
In addition, no OFW was ignited with COVID in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries, especially Thailand, Myanmar and Laos.
The monetary subsidy for eligible singles to FWOs whose employment had a negative impact through COVID-19 is also ongoing in Israel, where it released its third tranche of DOLE-AKAP beneficiaries.
CoVID-19 infection between OFW in Taiwan was also not reported, however, two new positive cases were followed in Singapore according to the city-state’s polo workplace.
Three new cases were also reported in the Philippine network in Israel on 30 September, according to Labour attached Rudy Gabasan. Of the 68 OFWs affected by COVID, 56 recovered and a death was recorded.
In Tokyo, no Cases of Covid-19 were reported at OFW as of September 30.
In Europe, 101 Filipinos were followed as of October 2; two were negative, 8 and 6 had died and 85 recovered.
Of the 14 cases in a row in France, 6 were reported dead and 8 recovered, while five cases were followed in Portugal.
Pinoy has not been reported with Covid-19 in Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Liechtenstein.
In the Middle East, Qatar recorded 17 Filipino deaths as of October 2. The number of cases verified through POLO involving Filipinos has increased to 3,132 OFW, nine more in the last 24 hours, the Philippine Labour Office in Qatar reported yesterday.
In Los Angeles, no deaths were reported among the OFWs as of September 30. According to POLO-LA, city fitness officials said the number of hospitalized patients in Arizona showing or suspecting coronavirus fell to 483 on Saturday, among the lowest since early April. 5.
POLO-LA also provides psychosocial counseling 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and a generation of commentary on Philippine social media platforms.
No cases of COVID OFW have been reported in Canada, according to POLO in the North American region (ALMS).