MANILA, Philippines — The total number of COVID-19 cases in the country has reached 553,424 with the Department of Health reporting Wednesday that 1,184 more people contracted the disease.

Of the total, the DOH said that 29,814 or 5.4% are still active, or patients who are still being managed in isolation facilities or hospitals.

The DOH also reported 53 new fatalities due to the respiratory disease, bringing the death toll to 11,577 or 2.09% of all cases.

It also said that 271 more people recovered from the disease, pushing the total number of survivors to 512,033, representing 92.5% of all cases.

What’s new today?

• Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said the Philippines has signed indemnification agreements with drugmakers Pfizer and AstraZeneca under the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility. Galvez said drugmakers wanted the deal, which holds them harmless in case of adverse events due to coronavirus vaccines, over concerns with the country’s previous experience with the Dengvaxia vaccine.
• House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco (Marinduque) said he supports the National Economic Development Authority’s proposal for the entire country to be placed under the laxest quarantine regime by March, even if coronavirus vaccines have yet to be rolled out.
• The number of new cases of COVID-19 reported worldwide fell by 16% last week to 2.7 million, the World Health Organization said.

— Xave Gregorio with reports from Franco Luna and AFP

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