Philippine Ambassador to India Ramon Bagatsing Jr. said Tuesday that two Filipinos died of COVID-19 in the said country.
According to Bagatsing, the two Pinoys tested positive for COVID-19 on April 23 but died three days later as India battles a “tsunami” of COVID-19 cases, with over a million new COVID-19 cases recorded this week alone.
“It is really bad here. May dalawang nasawi [na Pilipino]. We learned they were positive in April 23 then April 26, wala na. It happened very fast. Traydor itong virus na ito. They call it double mutant strain,”” Bagatsing said during the Laging Handa briefing.
(Two Filipinos died, and they died within three days. It was very fast. The virus is a traitor.)
“They (those who died) are of managerial level. I cannot give further details to give due respect to the family,” he added.
The ambassador said 20 other Filipinos in India are also diagnosed with COVID-19.
“They are confined, isolated,” he said.
Two Filipinos die amid COVID-19 surge in India: envoy
“We are doing everything we can to help them given the situation,” he added.
Last week, India marked a new milestone in the COVID-19 pandemic after it reported 314,835 new daily cases, the highest one-day tally worldwide.
“The situation is very critical,” Dr Kirit Gadhvi, president of the Medical Association in the western city of Ahmedabad, told Reuters.
“Patients are struggling to get beds in COVID-19 hospitals. There is especially acute shortage of oxygen.”
The air force has also sent to other neighboring countries to get oxygen supply.
Many of the deaths from COVID-19 in India recently were due to a lack of oxygen.
The Delhi high court called what is happening today in India a “tsunami of disease”, where a record high of those testing positive for the disease was reported for three days in a row
“We never thought a second wave would hit us so hard,” Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the executive chairman of Biocon & Biocon Biologics, an Indian healthcare firm, wrote in the Economic Times.
Visit our Facebook page for more news updates.