COVID-19 forced over 3 million Overseas Filipinos living abroad to return home

As of May 13, more than 3.11 million Filipinos living abroad had returned home due to the pandemic, exceeding the 1.77 million expected number of overseas Filipino workers in 2020 provided by the Philippine Statistics Authority.

According to the Task Group on Management of Returning Overseas Filipinos, almost 2.067 million of the 3.11 million were former OFWs, with 724,361 non-OFWs and 313,205 foreign nationals.

“Between July 7, 2020, and May 14, 2022, a total of 6,523 deceased returning abroad Filipinos landed in the country. COVID-19 claimed the lives of 640 people “In a report dated May 14, the task committee stated.

In the first half of 2020, the pandemic brought the world to a halt, forcing OFWs and other overseas Filipinos to seek refuge in their host nations or be repatriated.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, COVID-19 infections have risen to 521.476 million worldwide as of Monday. COVID cases have already reached 3.68 million in the Philippines.

During their quarantine upon arrival, 32,594 returning overseas Filipinos tested positive for the virus, according to the task group. Only 50 people remain in quarantine at 11 sites, while 32,515 have recovered. The dead toll has risen to 29.

Meanwhile, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration is said to have helped 802,538 OFWs return to their home regions through COVID-19. Another 829,067 people took use of the “OFW Kalinga” program, which is for repatriated OFWs.

Meanwhile, about 1.024 million OFWs have benefited from the “Balik Probinsya and Uwian Na” One-Stop-Shop for the Management of Returning Overseas Filipinos program.