COTABATO CITY (PNA) – Health officials in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) are bracing for the return of about 100,000 locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) in the coming days, a regional health official said Tuesday.

Dr. Ameril Usman, the epidemiology surveillance unit head of the Ministry of Health–BARMM, said that based on initial data from the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government-BARMM, some 100,000 individuals are expected to return to the region under the “Hatid Tulong” program of the national government. The figure includes more than 5,000 deportees from Sabah, Malaysia.
“We have no specific number (of returning BARMM residents), as of yet, but the estimate is about that number,” Usman said, adding that the establishment of four huge coronavirus disease (COVID-19) isolation facilities in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi was timely.
COVID-19 facilities have been established, and massive construction had been ongoing as the region is racing against time, he added.
Meanwhile, Usman said that, as of Monday evening, three new cases were listed in the region, raising the total number of COVID-19 infections to 451. One of the three cases was exposed to his son who was earlier tested positive of the virus in Tawi-Tawi.
The two others are from Lanao del Sur which remained on top with most cases at 179. Basilan/Lamitan City came in second with 100, Maguindanao with 38, Sulu 11, and three in Tawi-Tawi.
Also included in the list are the 120 LSIs who arrived in Cagayan de Oro, but brought and confined at the regional Covid-19 isolation center in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao.