Coronavirus cases in Philippines top 400,000; death toll at 7,710
MANILA, Philippines — Health authorities confirmed Wednesday that the number of coronavirus cases in the Philippines has reached more than 400,000 nine months into the outbreak.
Data from the Department of Health showed there were 1,672 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the overall tally to 401,416. The Philippines reported its first COVID-19 case—a Chinese woman from Wuhan, the ground zero of coronavirus pandemic—on January 30.
The Philippines is the 25th in the world with the most number of cases and second in Southeast Asia, next to Indonesia with over 444,000 infections as of Tuesday
Of the total confirmed cases, 31,489 or around 8% are still undergoing treatment or quarantine. Nearly 93% of these cases are mild and asymptomatic.
Cavite province registered the highest daily increase with 100 new cases. It was followed by Davao City with 99 cases, Quezon City with 81, Batangas province with 78 and Baguio City with 70.
Some 363,217 people have since recovered from COVID-19 after the department announced 311 recoveries. Total recoveries accounted for 90% of the country’s confirmed cases.
The respiratory illness, however, took the lives of 49 more patients, raising the death toll to 7,710.
Wednesday’s tally did not include the submission of eight licensed laboratories that failed to submit their data on time.
Some 4.8 million people have been tested for coronavirus in the country.
In a speech late Tuesday, President Rodrigo Duterte erroneously claimed the threat of COVID-19 is now less terrifying as vaccines are now available and being sold. While the announcement of American pharmaceutical company Pfizer that its candidate vaccine is 90% effective gave a glimmer of hope, the results are still preliminary and firm has yet to submit an emergency use authorization to the US Food and Drug Administration.
Duterte said the government will borrow up to P14.5 billion for the procurement of the vaccines to inoculate the target population, which includes the marginalized, the vulnerable and even uniformed personnel.
The global COVID-19 case count has exceeded 51 million, with over 1.27 million deaths.
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