Free COVID-19 swab test, hotel quarantine and transportation for home will still be available for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from the UAE, said the Philippine labor attache in Abu Dhabi.

Following the travel restriction imposed by the Philippines for foreigners coming from the Gulf state effective Jan. 17 until Jan. 31, Labor Attache Atty. Manuel Dimaano said: “Libre pa rin ang swab test, accommodation, and also ‘yung transportation for them.”

Under the new expanded travel restriction with UAE and Hungary added on the list, Filipinos will be allowed to entry, but they will have to undergo screening for coronavirus and 14-day mandatory quarantine.

Dimaano said, “The 14-day quarantine will be mandatory for OFWs flying home [after Jan. 17], irregardless of the RT-PCR test results, based on the COVID-19 preventive measures in place.”

In October 2020, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration clarified all OFWs, documented or not, may avail of free swab test and hotel quarantine upon their arrival in the Philippines. The agency also sends them to their respective provinces free of charge.

The labor attache, however, appealed to OFWs: “Kung pwede pong maipagpaliban muna ang inyong byahe para na rin po sa inyong kaligtasan dahil sa ongoing risk ng COVID-19, mas makabubuti po ‘yun.”

The inclusion of the UAE on the list of countries where the Philippines imposed a travel restriction came after the Department of Health (DOH) reported the detection of ‘patient zero’ of the new and more transmissible COVID-19 variant first reported in the United Kingdom.

The 29-year-old male Filipino arrived from Dubai last January 7. He and his companion were immediately isolated.

The DOH confirmed Friday that 125 co-passengers, or 78 percent of the patient, have also been placed in isolation, as they await their COVID-19 test results.

“Nasa quarantine facilities na po sila, iyong iba naka-home quarantine kasi nakapag-comply naman po sa requirements,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online press briefing.

“Lahat po sila ay na-swab using RT-PCR test at kinunan ng specimen for genome sequencing,” she added.

As of Friday, the UAE reported 3,407 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of recorded cases to 246,376. The total number of recoveries hit 218,988.