Philippines COVID-19 cases exceed 416,000, deaths now at 8,080
MANILA, Philippines — Another 1,791 coronavirus infections were reported by the Department of Health on Saturday, bringing the national caseload to 416,852.
Of the total number of cases, 33,224 are classified by the health department as active, which means these patients are still undergoing treatment or quarantine.
On Friday, the country reached a grim milestone as the total number of coronavirus-induced deaths exceeded the 8,000-mark, landing on a total 8,025. Another 55 fatalities recorded Saturday brings the country's death toll to 8,080.
Another 328 individuals were reported to have survived the deadly virus, however, bringing the total recoveries to 375,548.
The Philippines positivity rate currently stands at 5.5%. This is based on the 25,430 people tested before 12 p.m. the day previous, 1,398 of whom tested positive.
The following areas posted the most number of cases per the health department's latest bulletin:
- Tarlac with 211 new cases
- Davao City with 115 more infections
- Laguna with 74 new cases
- Cavite with 69 more infections
- Negros Occidental with 65 new cases
Worldwide, 57.49 million people have contracted coronavirus, a staggering 1.37 million of whom died as a result.
It has been 249 days since parts of the Philippines were first placed under community quarantine.
Since then, the country has reckoned with an onslaught of typhoons which have brought additional fatalities and fears that the spread of coronavirus will intensify in shelters where physical distancing and the implementation of minimum health standards pose a challenge.
A total of 45,906 families — or 183,644 individuals — are currently crammed into 1,257 evacuation centers, according to a National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council's situation report as of Nov. 20.
READ: Evacuee in Marikina tests positive for coronavirus | Experts urge more gov’t funding for evacuation centers to prevent casualties, COVID-19 spread
— Bella Perez-Rubio
Follow this page for updates on a mysterious pneumonia outbreak that has struck dozens of people in China.
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says on Sunday that he had contracted COVID-19, testing positive at a key point in his flailing campaign for re-election.
Hipkins saYS on his official social media feed that he would need to isolate for up to five days -- less than two weeks before his country's general election.
The leader of the centre-left Labour Party said he started to experience cold symptoms on Saturday and had cancelled most of his weekend engagements. — AFP
The World Health Organization and US health authorities say Friday they are closely monitoring a new variant of COVID-19, although the potential impact of BA.2.86 is currently unknown.
The WHO classified the new variant as one under surveillance "due to the large number (more than 30) of spike gene mutations it carries", it wrote in a bulletin about the pandemic late Thursday.
So far, the variant has only been detected in Israel, Denmark and the United States. — AFP
The World Health Organization says on Friday that the number of new COVID-19 cases reported worldwide rose by 80% in the last month, days after designating a new "variant of interest".
The WHO declared in May that Covid is no longer a global health emergency, but has warned that the virus will continue to circulate and mutate, causing occasional spikes in infections, hospitalisations and deaths.
In its weekly update, the UN agency said that nations reported nearly 1.5 million new cases from July 10 to August 6, an 80% increase compared to the previous 28 days. — AFP
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In a declassified report, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) says they had no information backing recent claims that three scientists at the lab were some of the very first infected with COVID-19 and may have created the virus themselves.
Drawing on intelligence collected by various member agencies of the US intelligence community (IC), the ODNI report says some scientists at the Wuhan lab had done genetic engineering of coronaviruses similar to COVID-19. — AFP
Boris Johnson deliberately misled MPs over Covid lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street when he was prime minister, a UK parliament committee ruled on Thursday.
The cross-party Privileges Committee said Johnson, 58, would have been suspended as an MP for 90 days for "repeated contempts (of parliament) and for seeking to undermine the parliamentary process".
But he avoided any formal sanction by his peers in the House of Commons by resigning as an MP last week.
In his resignation statement last Friday, Johnson pre-empted publication of the committee's conclusions, claiming a political stitch-up, even though the body has a majority from his own party.
He was unrepentant again on Thursday, accusing the committee of being "anti-democratic... to bring about what is intended to be the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination".
Calling it "beneath contempt", he said it was "for the people of this to decide who sits in parliament, not Harriet Harman", the veteran opposition Labour MP who chaired the seven-person committee. — AFP
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