5 Filipinos in Indonesia die of COVID, infects ‘not more than 50’ others — envoy

This illustration provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in January 2020 shows the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The coronavirus outbreak has exposed a seeming disconnect between the financial markets and science. Health experts are uncertain how far the virus out of China will spread and how bad the crisis will get, yet stock markets are rallying as if they’re not expecting more than a modest hit to the global economy. (CDC via AP, File)

MANILA, Philippines — Five Filipinos in Indonesia have died of COVID-19 while “not more than 50” contracted the respiratory disease since the pandemic began, the Philippine Ambassador to Indonesia Leehiong Wee said Monday.

While Indonesia’s Ministry of Health does not have statistics of foreigners who fall sick of COVID-19, Wee said reports received by the embassy indicate that not more than 50 Filipinos in Indonesia contracted COVID-19.

“The embassy has received reports that not more than 50 Filipinos have contracted COVID-19 since the pandemic. The majority of them have already recovered,” Wee said in a televised briefing.

The ambassador added that “there are about five Filipinos who have died of COVID-19 in Indonesia since last year.”

Indonesia placed its capital Jakarta, areas in Java and Bali under a partial lockdown on Saturday after an increase in its number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Indonesia’s health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that the Delta variant, the most contagious identified COVID-19 variant, is the primary reason for the recent surge in cases.

Meanwhile, Wee assured that Filipinos in this country are being vaccinated against COVID-19, thanks to the initiatives of the companies where they are working.

“We don’t have the figure for (vaccinated) Filipinos, but yung mga Fillipinos dito (the Filipinos here), they can get their vaccine from their own companies or from private companies where they are working,” he said.

As of July 5, Indonesia has 2,284,084 total COVID-19 cases with 60,582 deaths and 1,928,274 recoveries.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III has said that the government is looking into possibly imposing a travel ban on Indonesia amid the threat of the Delta variant. Faith Yuen Wei Ragasa, Inquirer trainee

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