COVID-19 cases in Philippines rise to over 290,000 as death toll nears 5,000

MANILA, Philippines — The total number of coronavirus infections climbed past 290,000 as the country's death toll approached the 5,000-mark, the Department of Health reported Monday. 

The DOH logged 3,475 additional COVID-19 infections, pushing the nation's caseload to 290,190. Seventy-six percent of the newly-reported cases occurred in the last 14 days. 

Outbreak epicenter Metro Manila was still the source of the majority of the recent cases, making up 44% or 1,543 of the additional infections. Batangas (194) followed the capital region, then Rizal (192), Cavite (166) and Cebu (165).

COVID-19 cases are still increasing by several thousand daily, even after strict restrictions were implemented to stem the spread of the virus.

The DOH also registered 15 new deaths related to COVID-19, taking the country’s fatality count to 4,999.

Of the newly reported deaths, eight died in September, six in August and one in April. 

The country has the second highest number of COVID-19 fatalities in Southeast Asia behind neighboring Indonesia with 9,553 deaths as of Sunday.

The total number of recoveries, meanwhile, rose to 230,233  after 400 more people got better from the respiratory disease. The day before, 20,021 recoveries were reported as the DOH implemented its weekly “mass recovery” scheme.

Of the total confirmed cases, 54,958 were considered active or those still undergoing treatment or quarantine.

The DOH noted that 28 duplicates were removed from the total case count. There were also 13 cases previously reported as recovered classified as 12 deaths and one active case. 

Globally, the novel coronavirus has infected 30.91 million individuals, with 959,059 deaths since it emerged in China late last year.