Philippines logs 766 new COVID-19 cases as total hits 470,650
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines reported 766 new coronavirus infections Monday, the lowest daily rise since July 14, pushing the country’s caseload to 470,650.
The Department of Health said the decline in additional cases during the holiday season is expected due to the closure of many private laboratories and the decrease in the number of patients served by those that remained open.
The DOH noted that out of the 175 open laboratories on December 26, there were 27 that reported seeing zero patients, while many others were observed to have decreased census.
Monday’s figure also did not include results from six testing laboratories which failed to submit their reports on time.
The highest daily increase was seen in Davao City with 60 cases. It was followed by Quezon City with 46, Benguet with 41, Laguna with 39 and Rizal with 37.
Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 survivors rose to 438,780 after 104 more patients recovered from COVID-19. The agency registered the “mass recovery” of 7,635 patients Sunday.
Total recoveries accounted for 93.2% of the cumulative cases.
The DOH also logged 15 new fatalities due to the respiratory disease, raising the death toll to 9,124.
Excluding recoveries and deaths, the number of active cases stands at 22,746 or 4.8% of the nation’s confirmed cases. Of these, 80% have mild symptoms, 10.4% are asymptomatic, 6% are in critical condition, 3.2% are severe cases and 0.44% exhibit moderate symptoms.
The government extended the ban on all flights from the United Kingdom for another two weeks to keep out of the Philippines a new strain of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The new variant of the virus, which is believed to be more transmissible, has so far not been detected in the country.
President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to decide on the quarantine classifications for January on Monday.
The Philippines, which has Southeast Asia’s second worst outbreak, is bracing for a surge in COVID-19 cases after the Christmas holiday festivities.
Global COVID-19 cases have reached 80.7 million, including 1.76 million deaths.
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