GENERAL SANTOS CITY – The city government is closely monitoring the health status of seven fishermen who were repatriated last week from Indonesia after more than 10 months in detention for illegal fishing.
Rose Delima, crisis intervention unit head of the City Social Welfare and Development Office, said Friday the fishermen returned home on June 23 through a sweeper flight arranged by the local government and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
The fishermen were released from jail in North Sulawesi, Indonesia following interventions from concerned agencies.
She said they were arrested by Indonesian authorities last year for reportedly fishing in its territorial waters.
Delima said the fishermen were immediately brought to a barangay isolation unit upon arrival for mandatory quarantine.
“They were already subjected to swab collection and currently waiting for the results,” she told reporters.
Indonesia is reeling from outbreaks of the dreaded Delta variant of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Visitors and returning residents who came from areas with high cases of Covid-19, especially its variants, are required to undergo 14-day quarantine upon arrival and swab testing after several days.
The city government has tightened its borders and ports of entry for travelers from areas outside Region 12 (Soccsksargen) due to rising Covid-19 infections.
The City Health Office reported 81 new positive cases and 35 recoveries on Thursday night, bringing the active infections in the area to 731, the highest since last year.
The confirmed Covid-19 cases in the city since March 2020 already reached 5,820, with 181 related deaths and 4,908 recoveries
Source: Philippines News Agency
