PH coronavirus watch: Suspected cases per region, as of March 5, 2020

MANILA, Philippines – Health authorities continue to ramp up efforts to detect possible cases of the novel coronavirus in the Philippines.

As of Thursday, March 5, the Department of Health (DOH) said it has probed 669 patients. Out of this number:

• 37 – admitted to hospitals
• 629 – discharged from hospitals
• 3 – confirmed cases

Of the 3 confirmed cases in the Philippines, one died due to severe pneumonia because of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new virus, while the other two have since recovered.

There is still no recorded case of local transmission in the country.

Below is the latest breakdown of patients under investigation per region. All numbers are from the DOH’s nCoV tracker.

Since the outbreak began, 88 Filipinos have contracted the virus, all based outside the Philippines. These include 80 from a cruise ship docked in Japan, 3 in Singapore, 3 in Hong Kong, and 2 in the United Arab Emirates.

But 40 from the cruise ship and 1 in Singapore have since recovered, leaving 47 still infected as of Thursday

The World Health Organization raised its global risk assessment of the virus to the maximum level. It earlier declared the outbreak an international emergency.

The global death toll has reached 3,279, with 3,015 of the fatalities in China. The number of cases worldwide has risen to 95,265, with 80,565 of the infections in China. The virus has spread to more than 70 countries. – Rappler.com