MANILA, Philippines (Updated 4:30 p.m.) — The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Philippines grew to 4,195 on Friday after health authorities detected 119 new infections.
COVID-19 killed a total of 221 people in the country after recording 18 additional deaths.
Sixteen more patients recovered from the highly contagious disease. A total of 140 individuals have been cleared of the virus.
The agency earlier said that spikes in the number of cases are expected as the country ramps up its testing capabilities. There are 11 laboratories capable of testing coronavirus samples across the archipelago.
An online and mobile platform was launched Thursday to help the government track people exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 and conduct a more efficient contact tracing. Medical frontliners can also receive alerts from the StaySafe.ph system so they could respond to severe cases and provide patients direct online consultations.
The national government on Tuesday announced the extension of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine until April 30 to help stop the rate of infection from increasing.
The coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than 95,000 lives out of the 1.6 million infected people across the world.