By Roy Mabasa
The total number of confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases among Filipinos abroad has soared to more than 8,300 on Monday, June 22, after the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) belatedly received accumulated reports of 2,160 confirmed cases from the Middle East and European countries with strict privacy and confidentiality laws.
Also included in the accumulated late reports of COVID-19 cases among overseas Filipinos are 10 new fatalities and 2,193 new recoveries.
To date, the total number of confirmed cases is at 8,301, total recoveries at 5,055, total live cases at 2,740, and total deaths at 506.
“It is worth noting, however, that the share of total deaths against the total confirmed cases decreased to six percent compared to last week's figures at 7.7 percent,” the DFA said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the repatriation of Filipinos from all over the world continues as nearly 1,000 individuals, mostly affected by the pandemic, safely came home on Monday, June 22, in separate flights from North Africa, Barbados, and the United Arab Emirates.
Some 280 Filipinos from Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport via Philippine Airlines flight from Tunis on Monday morning.
This was immediately followed by 667 overseas Filipinos flown in on two separate flights from Barbados and the United Arab Emirates that landed at the Clark International Airport in Pampanga.