MANILA, Philippines (Updated 5:08 p.m.) — The Philippines recorded another huge increase in coronavirus infections Wednesday, taking the country’s caseload past the 115,000-mark.
The Department of Health logged 3,462 new COVID-19 infections, with outbreak epicenter Metro Manila responsible for 70% of the additional cases. Laguna had 105 new cases, Rizal had 101, Cavite had 73 and Cebu province had 62.
To date, the novel coronavirus has sickened 115,980 people in the country.
The day before, the Philippines reported 6,352 additional COVID-19 infections—the biggest single-day increase in the country so far.
The number of cases has grown exponentially since the government eased movement restrictions in June, piling pressure on health workers who warned over the weekend the country was losing its battle against the health crisis.
This prompted the government to reimpose tough stay-at-home restrictions in Metro Manila and the province of Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna and Cavite.
The number of active cases or patients who are currently ill was at 47,587. Some 91% were mild cases, while 7% were asymptomatic.
The DOH also reported that recoveries increased to 66,270 after 222 more people were given clean bill of health. Total recoveries accounted for 57% of the country’s confirmed cases.
But nine more patients succumbed to COVID-19, raising the death toll to 2,123.
Seventy-five duplicates were removed from the total case count.
Some 1.527 million people have been tested so far for coronavirus in the country.
Global infections passed 18.54 million, with 700,714 deaths since the virus emerged in China late last year.