MANILA, Philippines — The number of Filipinos abroad infected with the new coronavirus disease rose to 11,082 after 213 new cases were recorded Monday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.
DFA’s latest data also showed that an additional 217 patients managed to beat the virus, driving total recoveries to 7,136, as well as one new fatality in the Middle East.
However, DFA explained that the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases were due to delays in reporting and does not mean a sudden surge of infection among Filipinos overseas.
“Today, the DFA reports spikes both in the number of confirmed new COVID-19 cases and recoveries among Filipinos abroad, bringing the total number for each category to over 11,000 and over 7,100, respectively, in Asia and the Pacific and the Middle East,” DFA said.
“Meanwhile, 1 [one] new fatality was recorded in the Middle East. The reported increase is due to privacy considerations in one country in the Middle East, which caused delays in reporting,” it added.
According to DFA, its COVID-19 statistics were gathered from 80 countries around the world where Filipinos are working or staying.
It said most of the cases were from the Middle East and Africa regions, with 7,347 — of which 2,303 are still undergoing treatment, and 4,524 have recovered. A huge part of the deaths also came from the said region, with 502 casualties.
This was followed by the Asia Pacific Region (1,716 total cases), Europe (1,209 total cases), and Americas (810 cases).