Coronavirus Death Toll For OFWs Abroad Reach 666 – DFA
OFW DEATH TOLL – The number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who have died from the coronavirus have reached 666, said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
As the Philippines continued to struggle with local cases of COVID-19, thousands of OFWs were also struggling with the respiratory disease. Currently, the Philippines has reported over 85,000 coronavirus cases with 1,874 new infections reported on Wednesday.
The DFA also reported 11 new fatalities among OFWs abroad. Furthermore, the DFA also reported 87 more overseas workers have been infected with COVID-19. As such, the total tally of coronavirus cases among Filipinos outside of the Philippines has reached 9,392. Of that number, 3,265 remain under treatment.
On a lighter note, A report from Inquirer said recoveries for the overseas workers rose to 5,461 with 35 patients recovering from the deadly disease. Meanwhile, there had been more than 16.3 million coronavirus infections reported globally. Along with this, over 650,000 have succumbed to the respiratory illness.
However, in the Philippines, government officials such as Harry Roque continued to downplay the severity of the coronavirus. Despite having over 80,000 cases of COVID-19, Roque said that the public shouldn’t be worried. He explained that although the number of cases was high, the mortality rate of below 2% was still low with close to 2,000 deaths.
As a response to Roque’s statements, Vice President Leni Robredo said that the deaths of the Filipino are more than just statistics. Moreover, she emphasized that each Filipino who died had a story, a family, and a dream that was cut short because of the disease.
READ MORE HERE: Leni Hits Roque’s Statement: “Ang Mga Namatay Ay Hindi Statistics Lang”