MANILA, Philippines – There are now 5,369 overseas Filipinos worldwide infected with the coronavirus, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Saturday, June 6.

Of that number, 363 have died and 2,225 have recovered and been discharged. The rest of the 2,781 are undergoing treatment.

The infected Filipinos are spread over 49 countries.

From May 31, there was only an increase of 185 cases on Saturday.

On May 31, the DFA reported a high surge of 2,315 new cases, but attributed it to the delayed reporting of its offices in the Middle East.

Middle East and Africa, from where data is lumped together by the DFA, now have the highest number of cases with 3,349.

There are 118 deaths in Middle East and Africa.

Most of the deaths are still from 6 countries in the Americas, with 152 deaths out of the total 657 cases.

The rest of the cases are in Asia Pacific with 521 cases and only 2 deaths, and in Europe with 838 cases and 91 deaths. 

Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who flew back to the Philippines during the pandemic were met with logistical and bureaucratic mishaps in quarantine hotels where they needed to be tested and isolated before they could go home to their respective provinces.

At one point, there were 24,000 OFWs who couldn’t go home past the 14-day quarantine period even though they already tested negative.

On June 5, the National Task Force COVID-19 announced returning OFWs need only to be quarantined in Manila for 5 days before they could go home to their provinces. – Rappler.com