Coronavirus-linked deaths in Philippines breach 1,000

MANILA, Philippines — The novel coronavirus has killed more than a thousand in the Philippines since COVID-19 was first reported in Wuhan, China in December.

A full week into the general community quarantine, health authorities are still reporting hundreds of COVID-19 cases each day, with Sunday's update adding 555 cases to the existing tally. 

Of the new cases, 378 were listed as “fresh” cases, while the remaining 177 were results returned late as part of the Department of Health’s backlog. 

Included in Sunday afternoon's tally were 89 recoveries and 9 deaths, bring their totals to 4,530 and 1,003 respectively. 

This brings the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 21,895 while the number of active cases stands at 16,362. 

Throughout the past week, an additional 4,671 COVID-19 cases were recorded since last Sunday—the most reported in a single week so far.

Worldwide, 6.9 million have been sickened while over 400,000 have died according to Worldometers.

The past week of general community quarantine has been marred by concerns over inadequate public transportation and the anti-terror bill pending Duterte's signature—a measure certified as urgent by the chief executive despite lackluster strides in the battle against the new pathogen.

Last week also saw a report by the United Nations detailing a myriad of human rights violations in the country and whose results the Palace categorically dismissed.

This comes as government officials continue to bank on the people's "cooperation" and "discipline" to flatten the curve of coronavirus in the country despite failures in medical progress. — with reports from Ratziel San Juan