MANILA: Philippines Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Friday apologized to the government of Dubai over his claim that a Filipino worker in the city died after contracting the coronavirus last month.
The Philippines government explained that the death of the worker, Amalia Collado Daproza, was not caused by the virus as earlier reported.
“Based on a belated report received by the office of Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III from the Philippine Labor Office in Dubai, results of confirmatory tests conducted by the Dubai Health Authority yielded negative,” it said.
The statement came a day after Bello announced that the Filipino worker had “died of coronavirus,” citing information reaching his office.
“Secretary Bello wishes to apologize to the government of Dubai for the confusion and anxiety that the announcement may have caused,” the government said.
Speaking on Thursday, Bello said Daproza had died after contracting a “still undetermined strain of coronavirus.”
But the Dubai government media office rejected what it described as “false statements attributed to the Philippine labor secretary regarding a Filipino dying in Dubai due to coronavirus.”
“The cause of death was pneumonia and the woman had tested negative for novel #coronavirus,” it said. A new strain of the coronavirus, which originated in China, has killed almost 600 people.
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