Overseas Filipino workers (OFW) coming home from Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Dhaka, Bangladesh on July 15 and 18 will enter bubble quarantine to ensure their family’s safety against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

In a radio interview Monday, Mayor Sara Duterte allayed fears of a potential rise of Covid-19 cases with the acceptance of repatriates.

“There are international flights that would come in. They will be in a bubble wrap and will go directly to an isolation hotel. From there, they will undergo the needed Covid-19 processing, so there will be hotels designated for these groups,” she said.

Under Davao’s “bubble wrap”, all arriving passengers will be brought to their isolation hotels where they will undergo swab tests for Covid-19 and be locked in for 14 days.

Duterte is also making sure hotel workers can safely cater to OFWs’ needs by fast-tracking their vaccination.

She clarified that only international repatriation flights are accepted here.

“First, we will be able to send our OFWs back to their families. Second, we will be able to help our hotel industry to earn, even if not for tourism but as pay isolation facility,” she added.

Meanwhile, Davao City Tourism Office Chief and Airport Monitoring head Generose Tecson said in an interview that as of July 9, a total of 1,079 rooms in 20 hotel establishments have been prepared and inspected by the Department of Tourism (DOT) as quarantine facilities.

“We prioritized multi-use or quarantine facilities. The DOT made the inspection and there were protocols followed to qualify,” she said.

She reminded the public to always comply with public health standards as the tourism industry is preparing for increased activities. (PNA)