0 Filipinos in COVID-19 quarantine in locked-down Shanghai —consul general

By RICHA NORIEGA, GMA News At least 10 Filipinos are in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 in Shanghai, which is currently in lockdown due to a virus surge, according to the Philippines' envoy in the city on Wednesday. Philippine Consul General in Shanghai Josel Ignacio said they have reached out and are in direct communication with the infected Filipinos to provide them assistance. “We regret that right now we have 10 of our nationals [who] have been taken to quarantine, who have tested positive. They have reached out to us and we are taking care after and looking after them one on one,” Ignacio said in an interview with ANC. “We are in direct communication, they tell us what they need. We try to elevate that to the authorities in different ways depending upon their needs,” he added. Ignacio said they requested food vouchers that can be used to purchase goods online and can be delivered straight to the COVID-positive Filipinos' households amid the limitation in mobility. “Having into the lockdown we saw some episodes of some panic-buying and supply lines became so tight. The recommendation we felt to address the common challenges would be in terms of providing some food security for our nationals,” the Philippine Consul General in Shanghai said. “So that’s why the request for assistance is in the form of vouchers [and] food cards that are good as cash that Filipinos can use to purchase goods online. These goods can be delivered straight to their households because there is a limitation in mobility,” he added. Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has also suspended the absentee voting in Shanghai. “We have about 1,600 registrants but because of the situation we were compelled to ask Comelec for direction. And the Comelec issued a resolution for temporarily suspending it because there is no really way,” Ignacio said. Shanghai eased its grueling, weeks-long COVID-19 lockdown on Wednesday despite a mounting official death toll and tens of thousands of daily cases. City authorities confirmed seven COVID-19 deaths and more than 18,000 mostly asymptomatic new cases on Wednesday, while also announcing four million more people had been released from the strictest version of lockdown. — BM, GMA News

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