Zamboanga City Mayor Beng Climaco has appealed to the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) not to use the city as a point of referral for Filipino deportees from Malaysia.

Climaco made this appeal to IATF chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. after the COVID-19 UK variant was recorded in Malaysia recently.

“Zamboanga City should no longer be a point of referral for the returning Filipinos […] we have centers already in Tawi-tawi and Sulu,” she said.

She also reiterated that only a few deportees from Malaysia are residents of Zamboanga City.

With the COVID-19 UK variant detected in Malaysia, the Zamboanga City mayor laments that cases in the city might increase especially when several residents violate health and safety protocols.

Over 12,000 individuals in Zamboanga City were apprehended for violating health and safety protocols since January.

At present, repatriation of all deportees and locally stranded individuals (LSIs) from Malaysia are suspended in the city. -AAC (with reports from Val Villaflor)

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) received reports confirming 348 new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases among overseas Filipinos, bringing the total tally to 14,389.

This record is the highest since June 2020, surpassing 322 cases reported on January 13 this year.

Meanwhile, 88 Filipinos have recovered from the disease raising the total number of recoveries to 9,052.

To date, no new fatality was reported.

According to the DFA, the reported spike is due to an increase in cases in Europe as well as late reports owing to privacy concerns in the Middle East and Africa.

Based on the latest report, the number of countries and territories where overseas Filipinos with confirmed cases of COVID-19 are reported have risen to 86.

The DFA said it shall continue to keep track of the status of overseas Filipinos, and facilitate repatriations, whenever possible.

MANILA, Philippines – A total of 25 new cases of COVID-19 infection were reported among overseas Filipinos on Wednesday, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

This brings the total number of infected Filipino nationals outside the country to 14,041.

The DFA also reported 10 new recoveries among those infected, raising the recovery tally to 8,964.

However, two Filipinos recently succumbed to COVID-19, bringing the death toll among Filipinos abroad to 954.

The DFA, together with its Foreign Service Posts, assured that it remains fully committed to monitoring and assisting our nationals abroad amid the pandemic.