2 Filipinos from South Africa still unlocated amid Omicron fears

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 10) — The government has located more Filipinos who arrived in the country from South Africa, but two remain unreachable, the Department of Health said on Friday.

Five of the seven returning overseas Filipinos have been found, according to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire. Two are undergoing facility-based quarantine pending test results, another two are on home quarantine after testing negative for COVID-19, while one was discharged after completing the required isolation and negative test.

Vergeire said the two missing ROFs are from Mimaropa and Northern Mindanao. DOH is coordinating with their respective local governments so they can undergo testing and quarantine.

Eight Filipinos who returned to the country from South Africa last month either provided wrong or incomplete personal information so authorities struggled to reach out to them. One was earlier located, bringing the number of missing down to seven, and now to two.

South Africa is on the “red list” of the Inter-Agency Task Force as the potentially more transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus was first reported there.

The country has not yet detected a case of the heavily mutated variant so it is placing restrictions on travelers coming from countries with confirmed local Omicron cases.