Two Filipinos died due to COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) in India while 20 others were infected, Philippine Ambassador to India Ramon Bagatsing, Jr. said Tuesday, as India is battling the world’s worst health crisis that is claiming thousands of lives each day.
“It is really bad here, may dalawang nasawi na (two already died),” Bagatsing said during the Laging Handa regular briefing.
According to the Philippine envoy, the two were diagnosed with coronavirus disease on April 23 and died three days later 26 and everything happened “very fast”.
“This virus is a traitor. They call it double mutant strain,” he said.
The two Filipino COVDI-19 casualties, whose identities are being withheld, were working at the “managerial level,” said Bagatsing.
“I cannot give further details to give due respect to the family,” he added.
Bagatsing said the 20 infected Filipinos are now “confined, isolated” while the Embassy is doing everything to help the nationals even under the current worsening situation in India.
It was reported that the second wave of COVID-19 in India started in March and has rapidly escalated since then, registering more than a million cases in the span of only three days.
As of April 27, 2021, India has registered a total of 17,636,307 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 14,556,209 recoveries, and 197,894 fatalities, according to the online COVID-19 monitoring platform, Worldometers.