MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health issued an apology Monday night hours after it mistakenly announced that four cities in Metro Manila had been classified as emerging virus hotspots.
In a televised briefing Monday afternoon, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire identified the cities of Marikina, Muntinlupa, Makati and Quezon City as emerging hotspots.
She said Marikina City had 51 cases for a case growth rate of 43.47%, while Muntinlupa had 30 cases for a case growth rate of 35.16%. Quezon City’s 406 cases represented a 34.5% growth rate and Makati’s 135 cases for a 30.18% growth rate.
The data that Vergeire mentioned, however, were from June.
“The following cities were mistakenly classified as hotspots and was based on a report last month,” the DOH said in a statement Monday night.
It said that as of July 5, three of the four cities earlier mentioned showed decline in the growth of COVID-19 cases, with Marikina decreasing by 68%, Muntinlupa by 10% and Makati by 4%.
But the department said it is closely monitoring the situation in Quezon City, which has shown an increase by 34%.
“We apologize for the confusion. This is our up to date record. We will redouble our efforts to keep our reports as current as possible,” the DOH said.
The total number of COVID-19 cases reached 46,333 Tuesday after the DOH added 2,099 infections to its tally. The recent spike in virus cases was attributed to “increased contact among the population” as the government further eased restrictions on movement nationwide.
The health agency is keeping an eye in Metro Manila and Cebu City after detecting clustering of cases.
Last week, President Rodrigo Duterte announced Cebu City in Central Visayas will remain under the strictest enhanced community quarantine, while Metro Manila will stay under general community quarantine at least until the end of the month.