PH works with IOM to aid Pinoys in Egypt, Sudan

In a televised Laging Handa briefing, Ambassador Sulpicio Confiado on Friday said around 200 displaced Filipinos are expected to receive aid in the coming days. (File Photo By Patrick Roque, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

MANILA – The Philippine embassy in Cairo is working with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to help more Filipinos affected by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic in the region.

In a televised Laging Handa briefing, Ambassador Sulpicio Confiado on Friday said around 200 displaced Filipinos are expected to receive aid in the coming days.

“Mayroon po tayong (We are doing some) initiatives na ginawa for those who are really in need, we have distributed around 100 food packs and we have a second wave of 200 plus in coordination with the IOM,” he said.

The IOM also distributed around 340 food packages to overseas Filipinos in Sudan, which is under the jurisdiction of the Philippine embassy in Cairo.

Confiado said the Egyptian government had already designated 26 hospitals and 10 laboratories dedicated to coronavirus response and would shoulder all expenses of patients being treated for the disease.

Based on the latest data from World Health Organization, at least 59,561 have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in Egypt, 2,450 of whom have died.

Confiado said only two Filipinos in Egypt and its other jurisdictions (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Sudan) tested positive for coronavirus.

“Sa ngayon dalawang cases pa lang tayo dito sa (Currently, we have two cases here in) Egypt and our four other jurisdictions,” he said.

The envoy said around 312 Filipinos working on a railway project in Ethiopia have been repatriated to the Philippines.