MANILA – The on-site repatriation team of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) handed out relief goods to Filipinos in Wuhan City who were stranded in their homes due to government restrictions limiting travel movement to contain the novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease (2019-nCoV ARD).
Mark Anthony Geguera and Sanny Darren Bejarin of the Philippine Consulate General in Shanghai coordinated with volunteer members of the Filipino community in the relief operations.
The DFA on-site repatriation team entered ground zero of the 2019-nCoV outbreak on Friday to firm up the arrangements for the planned repatriation activities with Chinese authorities.
“We already have our DFA team inside Wuhan City and they are there working on the ground preparing for the repatriation of our OFWs. They’re taking a great personal risk for the sake of our kababayans and I salute them for that,” DFA Undersecretary Brigido Dulay said in an earlier statement.
The team hired a vehicle to visit neighborhoods with identified Filipino residents in travel-restricted Wuhan City and handed out grocery items and other necessities.
A total of 56 persons, including seven spouses and four infants, have confirmed their intent to join the repatriation flight.
The DFA initiated the call to repatriate the workers on January 28, which was facilitated by the Philippine Embassy in Beijing and the Philippine Consulate General in Shanghai, the foreign service post with jurisdiction over Wuhan and Hubei. (PR)