COVID-19 claims lives of 6 Filipinos in France—envoy

MANILA, Philippines — Six Filipinos in France have died of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Philippine ambassador to France revealed Wednesday.

Ambassador Ma. Theresa Lazaro said the Philippine Embassy in Paris, France has received information that 11 Filipinos there have so far contracted the respiratory illness.

Globally, France has the fifth-most number of confirmed COVID-19 cases with over 131,300 infections, and more than 15,700 deaths.

“Sa aming impormasyon na natanggap, mga labing isa [ang positibo], anim dito ay nasawi, ang iba po naman ay naapektuhan ng COVID-19. But marami po sa kanila ay slowly recovering,” Lazaro said  in a virtual Laging Handa public briefing aired over state-run PTV.

(From the information we received, about 11 turned out positive, six of them died, while the others are already affected by COVID-19. But most of them are slowly recovering.)

There are more or less 25,000 Filipinos in France most of whom are employed as service staff, the diplomat added.

According to the Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center, the virus—first detected in Hubei, China late last year— has so far infected nearly two million people in 185 countries and territories.

While over 485,000 have recovered, more than 126,000 patients have already died of the disease worldwide.

There are 704 Filipinos abroad who have tested positive of the disease, data from the Department of Foreign Affairs showed. Eighty-eight of them died.

The virus causes mild symptoms such as fever and cough for most people but health experts have warned that older adults with preexisting health conditions were more vulnerable to the coronavirus, particularly those aged over 60-years-old.

Edited by JPV