Twenty-three Filipinos in Dubai have died after being infected with the novel coronavirus, Consul General Paul Raymond Cortes said today.
“As of yesterday, we have 16,000 [total] COVID positive cases [in Dubai], and 23 of our countrymen have died of COVID here in Dubai,” Cortes said during the government’s Laging Handa (“Always Ready”) virtual press briefing.
The diplomat assured the public, however, that Filipinos in the emirate receive “free treatment in government hospitals, and at the same time we monitor and check up on them.”
“So far, many of them are recovering,” Cortes added, but did not say how many Filipinos have recovered, or have contracted the disease in Dubai.
Cortes also said that many Filipinos, some of whom are under a “no work, no pay” scheme, have lost their incomes due to the shutdown caused by the pandemic, but the city is in the process of reopening.
“Dubai is starting to give people the opportunity to go back to work,” the diplomat said.
In late April, Dubai moved from a full lockdown to imposing a curfew which allowed residents to move freely without a permit between 6am to 1opm, reports Gulf News.
Read: 5 Filipinos die from COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia, stranded workers to be repatriated
The United Arab Emirates, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority, is the second favored destination of overseas Filipino workers, second only to neighboring Middle Eastern country, Saudi Arabia. At least 650,000 Filipinos are working in the UAE, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
This afternoon, the DFA said that at least 2,140 Filipinos in 46 countries abroad have been infected with COVID-19, including 244 who died and 574 who have since recovered.
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, recorded COVID-19 cases are now at 10,463, including 696 deaths, and 1,734 recoveries.
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