Philippines COVID-19 cases rise to 439,834

MANILA, Philippines — Confirmed coronavirus cases nationwide rose to 439,834 with the addition of 1,768 new cases, the Department of Health (DOH) reported yesterday.

It also recorded 9,062 new recoveries, as the number of those who survived the disease increased to 408,634, which accounted for 92.9 percent of total cases. The number of active cases is at 22,646 or 5.1 percent of the total. A high 90.4 percent of active cases are mild and asymptomatic.

The DOH also noted 29 additional deaths, bringing the number of COVID-related fatalities to 8,554. The figure represents 1.94 percent of total cases.

Quezon City posted the highest number of new cases with 112, followed by the provinces of Laguna with 94 and Rizal, 90. With 71 new cases, Davao City ranked fourth in the list of areas with high new cases while Benguet followed with 69.

The NCR remains on top among regions with high number of active and new COVID cases followed by the Calabarzon as of Dec. 4.

However, the DOH noted that 12 laboratories failed to submit their data to the COVID-19 Data Repository System (CDRS) on Dec. 5. COVID positivity is pegged at 8.85 percent, with over 5.5 million individuals nationwide tested for the infection.

DOH also reported that as of Dec. 4, the number of healthcare workers (HCWs) infected with COVID nationwide already reached 12,686.

Based on the DOH’s COVID-19 Philippine Situationer, at least 12,387 of the HCWs who are positive for COVID have recovered while 223 of them remain active cases. Also, 76 were recorded to have died.

The DOH further reported that 11,101 of the 671,353 Filipinos who returned from abroad tested positive. Most or 6,970 of the COVID-infected returning overseas Filipinos (ROF) were land-based while 4,131 were sea-based. A total of 667,238 were already released from quarantine.

Of the data on ROF, DOH said 10,588 have recovered, 430 are still admitted in hospitals and six have died.

A total of 579 foreign nationals staying in the country also tested positive for COVID.