3,000 Filipinos in Middle East infected with coronavirus
MANILA, Philippines — More than 3,000 Filipinos in the Middle East turned out to have been infected with the coronavirus —thrice than what has been officially reported so far.
On Sunday, 2,315 more COVID-positive Filipinos overseas were reported by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
This nearly doubled the total COVID-19 cases among Filipinos overseas to 5,184 cases from the previous day’s 2,869 cases.
The DFA attributed the huge increase in confirmed cases to “late reports” by Philippine diplomatic missions in the Middle East.
“The spike in numbers is due to some late reports received by our posts in the Middle East where many host governments implement strict privacy and confidentiality rules,” it said in a statement.
Around half of the cases belatedly reported in the Middle East have already recovered.
Article continues after this advertisementThe DFA said that out of the 5,184 Filipinos who had contracted COVID-19, nearly half or 2,151 had recovered. It added that over 1,100 Filipinos are being treated but do not require hospital care.
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