Philippines' COVID-19 tally nears 280,000 with 3,257 new infections
MANILA, Philippines — The country’s new coronavirus cases surpassed 3,000 for the 11th consecutive day Friday, taking the national caseload to 279,526.
The Department of Health reported 3,257 additional infections, of which nearly 81% contracted coronavirus disease in the past 14 days.
The bulk of newly-reported cases were from Metro Manila (997), followed by Bulacan (282), Cavite (179), Negros Occidental (152) and Cebu (127).
The Philippines still has the most number of COVID-19 infections in Southeast Asia.
The DOH attributed the rise in COVID-19 cases to factors such as community transmission and the increase in the number of coronavirus clusters in various parts of the country.
The total number of recoveries in the country increased to 208,790 after the DOH recorded 733 additional recovered patients.
The fatality count, meanwhile, climbed by 47 to 4,830. Eighteen of the deaths occurred this month, while 13 in August.
Active infections stood at 65,906 or almost 24% of the country’s confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The DOH said it had removed 20 cases tagged as duplicates from the case tally. There were also 24 cases previously reported as recovered but turned out to be 14 deaths and 10 active cases.
Twenty testing laboratories failed to submit their data to the department.
President Rodrigo Duterte will “definitely” extend the declaration of a state of calamity in the Philippines as the country continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, his spokesperson said Thursday,
The president declared a six-month of calamity last March 16. A day later, Luzon, home to nearly half of the country’s population, was placed under enhanced community quarantine.
Some 3.089 million have been tested for coronavirus in the country.
Globally, COVID-19 cases reached 30.06 million, including over 944,000 deaths.
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