About 50 Filipinos in Europe, South Africa stranded amid Omicron threat —DFA

By JAMIL SANTOS, GMA News The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Saturday reported that there are about 50 Filipinos in both Europe and South Africa who are still stranded amid the threat of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. advertisement "So far we have more or less 50 Filipinos stranded in Europe," said DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers' Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola at the Laging Handa public briefing. "We just received word this morning from our post in South Africa that there are around 49 [stranded OFWs]," she added. "We want to make an appeal to our fellow Filipinos, please contact our embassies and consulates if you are stranded so we can help you," Arriola said as she disclosed that DFA posts in 20 embassies and consulates in Europe have already issued notices on repatriation flights for Filipinos. Repatriation from the Netherlands is already set for December 10 and 13, according to Arriola. Arriola said procedures will be more "complicated" this time, as Filipinos from red list countries will have to be brought together in the Netherlands before they could be repatriated. "We stand ready in DFA, all our posts are prepared. We pray that other countries will no longer be added under the red list, but should it happen, all our embassies and consulates around the world, we stand ready to assist," she said. Currently, the Philippines has 14 countries on the red list. These include Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Mozambique. The list and the travel ban is effective until December 15. —KG, GMA News

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