DUBAI: The number of Filipinos in Dubai who have died due to COVID-19 has gone up to 23, or six new deaths in a span of five days from Sunday, May 3 when the figure was at 17.
This was gathered from Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes who also said there has been “quite a number” of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Among the COVID-19 positive cases was a video editor who was staying at home when he contracted the virus. He has now been discharged from the hospital.
Ambassador Hjayceelyn Quintana has earlier disclosed there were 21 COVID fatalities among Filipinos in the UAE. Seventeen were recorded in Dubai and four in Abu Dhabi, she told the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).
Cortes said the ambassador’s figures were as of May 3, Sunday. He said that number has gone up to 23 today, May 8.
Cortes said they have been receiving calls from OFWs seeking help after finding out they have COVID-19. The consulate coordinates these cases with Dubai Police and Dubai Health Authorities.
“There has been quite a number,” he said.
The OFWs are picked up from their residences and transferred to a hospital. At the same time, contact tracing is done, Cortes said.
Stayed at home
Meantime, an OFW, who had been staying home to avoid being infected with the coronavirus, has tested positive for COVID-19.
Jullian Marimla, video editor, said he still does not know how he got the virus.
“We do not have any idea. It could have been from anywhere. We had a hunch we got it from a clinic where my girlfriend had her check-up.
“Then again, it could have also been from take-aways and food deliveries or groceries. It’s impossible to really tell,” Marimla told Rappler.
“Nowadays kasi, halos ang mga tao po ay asymptomatic na. You could not tell who has the virus,” he said.
Marimla said he started to have fever that went on and off around the second week of April.
“Lagnat lang na di na-aalis,” said the 24-year-old Marimla, who was born and raised in Dubai and whose family hails from Angeles City in Pampanga.
“I was extremely scared,” he said.
“When I heard about the result, all I could think of was whether I would survive this, how am I going to support my family? What will happen to me now?
“It was mixed emotions, actually,” he said.
Weak and tired
Marimla said he would feel weak and tired during the day with muscle pain around his eyes.
“At nights, my temperature would spike to 39 degrees. Dry coughs came after a few days and it eventually worsened to the point that I was having difficulty breathing and I could not speak properly,” he recalls.
On April 19th, the third consecutive day that he was having fever, Marimla said he and a close friend finally went to a hospital for a check-up and test.
He said he was admitted at midnight of April 22 and stayed in the hospital for 10 days.
Treatment
Marimla said he was thankful he did not end up at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
“The moment I was admitted, naka-oxygen support na ako,” he said.
“Then they gave me paracetamol for my fever, and anti-biotics and anti-virals through IV because they found out that the virus has gone down to my lungs and I have already contracted pneumonia,” Marimla further shared.
He said the medical staff took his blood samples every day; it was swab tests every two to three days, he added.
Marimla was discharged in the morning of May 3.
The Daily Bread 