THE Department of Health on Wednesday said it recorded 145 more patients who have recovered from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
This is 29 cases higher than the previous record (116) set just last Friday.
Based on the latest Case Bulletin, the DOH said there are now a total of 2,251 recoveries.
But the number of COVID-19 cases also continued to rise, with 268 new cases reported on Wednesday, bringing the total to 11,618. There were also 21 new fatalities, or a total of 772 since February when the first fatality was reported.
Globally, the disease which originated in China has spread to 215 countries and territories, infected 4,098,018 persons including 283,271 who have died, according to date from the World Health Organization as of May 12.
In the Western Pacific Region, the Philippines has overtaken South Korea and now ranks fourth among countries with most COVID-19 cases. The top three are China, Singapore, and Japan.
Among Filipinos abroad, 77 new infections, eight deaths, 88 recoveries were reported by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The total number of infected Filipinos in 46 countries is now at 2,310. Recoveries totaled 757 and deaths, 269.
Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said 137 Filipinos were among the more than 83,000 deaths recorded by American authorities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Interviewed over “Laging Handa” public briefing, Romualdez said latest official figures listed 253 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection among Filipinos in the US including the Caribbean countries which fall under the embassy’s jurisdiction.
“About 137 succumbed to the disease, including 18 medical frontliners. This figure will increase if you include the Filipino-American community. From reports reaching us, there have been 40 deaths among Fil-Am health workers in New York, New Jersey region alone,” he said.
Despite the bleak news, he said the American people appreciate the “remarkable contribution” of Filipino healthcare workers to the US government’s efforts to stop the spread of the virus.
“Many of our Filipino frontliners continue to plod forward, aware of the risk and the tiring work. That is why the Americans here are very appreciative of Filipino health workers,” he said.
He appealed to the rest of the Filipino community to abide by regulations enforced by their local and state governments for their own safety.
For those who are trying to fly home to the Philippines, he said, the safer choice would be to stay indoors until the number of cases drop and authorities can declare that the pandemic has been brought under control.
“We try to convince them to stay in place or if they require assistance, we will work with them to get the necessary help. But generally, majority in the Filipino-American community here respect the state and local policies,” Romualdez added.
The envoy warned Filipinos to be wary as a few member states have decided to make the risky step of relaxing restrictions to allow commercial activities to resume, saying the bigger risk is triggering a second wave of the pandemic.
“There are some states who saw higher rates of COVID-19 cases. Of course, in the state of New York there has been a positive news that the numbers (of infected persons) are dropping,” he said.
He voiced confidence that the US economy will make a quick rebound because of the US Federal governments approval of a $2-trillion assistance package.
“It’s a huge sum so each family was able to receive something at an average of P3,000 dollars. At the same time, he noted that small businesses are also getting cash backing from the federal government in exchange for maintaining their workforce. “That was a big help to Filipinos,” he said. — With Ashzel Hachero and Peter Tabingo
