Filipino community in mainland China COVID-free –envoy

The Philippine Embassy in Beijing on Friday said it has recorded only one case of a Filipino who contracted COVID-19 in mainland China.

In a televised briefing, Ambassador Jose Santiago Sta. Romana said the Filipino male patient had already recovered from the disease. 

“It’s a COVID-free Filipino community here,” Sta. Romana said, as he credited China’s use of technology to curb the spread of the virus.

The figure does not include confirmed cases in China’s semi-autonomous regions Hong Kong and Macau.

The ambassador also reported that around 265 Filipinos have signified plans to return to the Philippines in light of the economic downturn brought about by the pandemic.

China has reported more than 83,000 coronavirus infections and 4,600 deaths, mostly in the city of Wuhan, where the virus was first detected in December last year. --KBK, GMA News