Coronavirus cases in the Philippines exceed 485,000 with 1,952 new infections
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 4:15 p.m.) — The health department on Saturday tallied 1,952 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the national caseload to 485,797.
This marks the highest number of new coronavirus cases logged by the agency in over three weeks and is the highest daily tally of 2021 thus far.
Of the total infections logged by the DOH, it has marked 26,784 or 5.5% as active.
Recoveries rose to 449,615 after 291 more people were reported to have beat the virus.
But another 34 fatalities were also registered by the department, raising the death toll to a grim 93,398.
Where new cases were highest
- Davao City - 143
- Quezon City - 98
- Rizal - 80
- Cavite - 77
- Bulacan - 74
What's new today?
Travelers from Austria are the latest to join the long list of foreign passengers barred by the Duterte administration from entering the country in a bid to keep out a variant of coronavirus that experts have found to be at least 50% more contagious than the original. The variant first emerged in the United Kingdom but has since spread to numerous countries across the globe.
Here is the full list of territories included in the travel ban:
- Australia
- Austria
- Brazil
- Canada
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Hong Kong SAR
- Iceland
- India
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Jordan
- Lebanon
- Norway
- Poland
- Singapore
- South Africa
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- The Netherlands
- United Kingdom
- United States
A measure filed in the House of Representatives seeks to allow private companies to procure coronavirus vaccines for employees and their families.
House Resolution 1453, filed by Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez (Cagayan de Oro City), invokes the "right of health" of Filipinos under the 1987 Constitution, calling on the government to allow the private procurement of vaccines to "attain the goal of herd immunity."
Rodriguez also filed a companion measure, House Bill 8301, that would exempt vaccines purchased by the private sector for workers and dependents from import duties, value-added tax, excise tax and other fees.
— Bella Perez-Rubio with reports from Xave Gregorio, Gaea Katreena Cabico and The STAR/Christina Mendez
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