May 24, 2021
Filipino migrant workers queue up for Covid-19 tests.
Reuters
For nearly two months now, Elena (not her real name) has been stuck in Lagos after her contract as an office employee ended. She is among a group of overseas Filipino workers in Nigeria hoping to catch a flight home.
“On April 7, we bought economy-class tickets with the Ethiopian Airlines. The only available flight was April 30 because of a travel cap” of 2,500 daily arrivals imposed by the Philippines, said Elena, who did not want to disclose her name.
Two days before they were due to travel, Elena said the workers each paid U$100 (S$133) to take a Covid-19 swab test. But when they tried to check in online the next day, “we learned that our flight was cancelled”.