348 more migrant Filipinos contract COVID-19, highest rise since June — DFA

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Foreign Affairs on Thursday logged 348 new coronavirus infections among overseas Filipinos, pushing its tally past 14,300.

The agency in its bulletin said the large spike in cases is due to an increase in infections in Europe and "late reports owing to privacy concerns in the Middle East and Africa."

Of the total 14,389 cases recorded by the agency, 4,382 are marked as active or undergoing treatment.

DFA also recorded 88 new recoveries, bringing the total number of Filipinos who have beaten the virus abroad to 9,052.

The death toll is unchanged at 954 after no new fatality was reported by the department.

New today

• Thursday's surge in cases among migrant Filipinos is the highest of 2021 so far, surpassing the 322 new infections recorded on January 13.
• The surge is also the highest recorded since June 2020 when the DFA recorded over 2,000 cases due to late reports in the Middle East, the agency told Philstar.com.
• The DFA's tally of countries and territories where Filipinos have contracted coronavirus rose to 86 after the department added another entry without identifying the specific area.

— Bella Perez-Rubio 

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