Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has recently decided to ease an overseas travel ban on the country’s nurses and other medical workers to allow more to take jobs abroad.

A healthcare worker takes blood sample from a passenger in Manila (Source: Reuters)

Those Duterte exempted from the ban will now include any workers with overseas contracts and documentation completed as of August 31, his spokesman Harry Roque told a media briefing on September 21. He added that the president’s decision would benefit 1,500 health personnel.

Healthcare workers from the Philippines are on the front lines of the pandemic at hospitals in the United States, Europe and the Middle East as well as at home.

The government in April barred nurses, doctors and other medical workers from leaving, saying they were needed to fight the coronavirus crisis in the Philippines, which is still tackling its first wave of infections.

The country has the highest number of recorded coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia with 286,743 cases, including 4,984 deaths.

On the day, Indonesia reported 4,176 new cases – the highest number recorded in one day. The tally now reaches 248,852, including 9,677 fatalities.

Source: VNA