MANILA [UPDATE] — The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday said the number of repatriated Filipinos with COVID-19 surpassed that of health workers over the last two months.

“Ayon sa ginawang initial analysis, may mga indikasyon na karamihan sa mga bagong kaso sa mga buwan ng Mayo at Hunyo ay dahil sa mga repatriates kumpara sa Marso at Abril na karamihan ay health care workers,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said during at televised briefing.

(According to our initial analysis, there are indications that majority of the new cases for the months of May and June are because of repatriates, compared to March and April that involved mostly health care workers.)

Data showed that overseas Filipinos who recently returned to the country accounted for less than 10 percent of total infections recorded in May and June.

Vergeire had to clarify on Thursday morning that she did not mean to say that “majority” of the cases were repatriates.

“It’s not really saying that majority of the cases were all repatriates,” she told reporters after acknowledging that many were confused after the Wednesday press briefing.

“Let us be clear on this, we were comparing the health care workers and the repatriates,” she said.

“'Pag tinignan natin na from May to June 'yung ating mga repatriates nasa 1,950 (If you look at the numbers from May to June, our repatriates with COVID-19 were at 1,950). We observed that the number of repatriate cases has significantly increased since we only recorded 28 cases from March to April,” Vergeire explained.

She said the number of health workers also went down to only 1,263 new cases for May and June.

On Wednesday, Vergeire said that as of June 30, 2020, 92,967 overseas Filipinos have returned home: 39,643 were land-based, and 53,324 were sea-based.

Of the total COVID-19 cases, 2,326 were among repatriated OFWs. More than half (1,213) are land-based workers and the rest (1,113) are sea-based workers.

• DFA: 59,000 overseas Filipinos repatriated since COVID-19 global spread

Many Filipino workers abroad were forced to return to the Philippines because their companies were affected by COVID-19 lockdowns.

Meanwhile, health workers in the Philippines who were infected with COVID-19 are now at 3,367.

DOH data compiled by the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group showed that among repatriates, new cases increased by 952 in May, and then another 998 in June. But these are only 9.9 percent and 5.1 percent respectively of the total number of new cases for the month.

Meanwhile, health worker infections spiked in April at 1,694. This accounted for 26.46 percent of the total confirmed cases at 6,401 that month.

The new cases among health workers slightly declined for May and June although it was not far behind the number of Filipino repatriates with COVID-19.

OFWs who return to the country undergo a COVID-19 test upon arrival. They then go on 14-day quarantine in government facilities mostly in Metro Manila. Those who test negative for the new coronavirus are allowed to return to their hometowns upon completing quarantine.