By: Neil Arwin Mercado – Reporter /INQUIRER.net /March 11, 2021
MANILA, Philippines — More than 383,000 overseas Filipinos have been repatriated back to the Philippines since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported Thursday.
During the online hearing of the House committee on overseas workers affairs, the DFA said they have repatriated 383,917 overseas Filipinos —of which 281,355 are land-based overseas Filipinos, while 102,562 are sea-based.
The repatriated Filipinos came from more than 90 countries and 150 cruise ships and other vessels.
Of the more than 383,000 overseas Filipinos repatriated since the start of the pandemic, more than 327,000 were brought back in 2020.
More than 60 percent of these OFWs came from the Middle East, 15.26 percent from Asia and the Pacific, and 9.4 percent from the Americas. Overseas Filipinos were also repatriated from Europe and Africa, the DFA said.
The DFA likewise reported that 15,874 overseas Filipinos have contracted COVID-19 as of March 11.
Of this number, 5,280 are undergoing treatment, 9,553 have recovered or have been discharged, and 1,041 have died.