Coronavirus: Filipinos share love for UAE with Facebook profile stickers

Thousands of Filipinos in the UAE are taking to Facebook to show solidarity between their homeland and the Emirates. Wam

Filipinos in the UAE are adding stickers to their Facebook profile to show solidarity between their homeland and the Emirates.

The bright yellow profile-picture frame has the flags of the UAE and the Philippines with the words, “Filipinos trust the UAE”.

The Filipino Times, a UAE-based newspaper, launched the sticker campaign on April 30 to foster camaraderie between Filipinos in the Emirates.

"It aims to unite their message of deep faith and thanks to the UAE," said Dr Karen Remo, the chief executive of the newspaper’s publisher New Perspective Media Group.

The Philippines embassy and consulate in the UAE, alongside local authorities, repatriated 516 Filipinos since the beginning of the outbreak until April 30.

However, six repatriation flights by Emirates and Etihad were cancelled after the closure of nine international airports in the Philippines on May 3.

The one-week closure is an effort to reduce pressure on quarantine facilities.

"The government has already accommodated around 20,000 repatriates who are quarantined in Metro Manila, with an arrival rate of 2,000 per day," said a statement by Manila International Airport Authority.

Filipinos living in the UAE were stuck overseas and unable to return to their family in the Emirates after passenger flights to the UAE were suspended for residents in late March.

According to the Filipino Nurses’ Association in the Emirates, there are over 20,000 Filipino nurses in the UAE working in the government and private sector, including homecare companies.

On Saturday, a Filipino nurse died in a Sharjah hospital while trying to save others, it was reported by the media in the Philippines.

Marlo Jimenea, 44, had worked in the Emirates for eight years. He is survived by his wife and six-year-old daughter, according to Philippines based SMNI news channel.