COVID-19 cases in Philippines approach 400,000 with 1,347 new infections
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 4:38 p.m.) — The country's coronavirus caseload is close to reaching the 400,000-level Tuesday after 1,347 new infections were recorded.
Data from the Department of Health showed 399,749 people in the country have had COVID-19 since a case was first recorded in late January. The Philippines has the second highest number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia after Indonesia with 440,569 infections as of Monday.
Of the total confirmed cases, 30,169 or around 8% are still undergoing treatment or quarantine.
Cavite posted the highest daily increase with 92 new cases. It was followed by Manila City with 77 cases, Quezon City with 58, Baguio with 55 and Laguna with 52.
Another 187 recoveries were recorded, taking the count to 361,919. Total recoveries accounted for around 91% of the confirmed cases.
But the DOH announced 14 more fatalities, raising the death toll to 7,661.
Low reporting rate
The DOH said the lower number of additional cases “may be attributed to the relatively lower reporting rate of laboratories for November 9, 2020.”
Only 84% of the licensed laboratories submitted data on Monday, which is lower than the reporting rates of 90% or more posted in the previous days. The department added that majority of the laboratories that did not submit on Sunday did not have operations that day.
Some 4.7 million people have been tested for coronavirus in the Philippines.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said the government is aiming to buy 50 million vaccine doses to inoculate an initial target of 25 million people next year.
He also said that “realistically speaking,” the bulk of COVID-19 vaccines may reach the country by the end of next year or early 2022 due to high demand and supply limitations. But if everything goes well, the “best case scenario” would be to have vaccines available between May and June 2021.
The global COVID-19 case count has surpassed 50 million, with over 1.25 million deaths.
- Latest
- Trending
