MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) said that as of Wednesday, June 3, there are now 19,748 coronavirus cases in the Philippines.

There were an addition of 751 cases, of which 221 are fresh cases and 530 are late cases. Late cases refer to results that came out 5 days or older, but were only validated recently.

There were new 8 deaths, adding to a total of 974 deaths.

There were 90 new recoveries, raising the total to 4,153.

The DOH said at it would continue to classify cases as “fresh” and “late” until laboratories have cleared their validation backlogs.

Wednesday was the 3rd day of the lifting of most of the lockdowns especially Metro Manila which has now almost fully reopened save for some slashed capacities of several sectors.

The government has again extended its self-imposed deadline to reach its targeted 30,000 tests per day from end of May to end of June.

Congress is poised to pass a fresh law that would extend President Rodrigo Duterte’s emergency powers to address the pandemic. Expiring on June 5, the Bayanihan To Heal As One Act cannot be extended because of constitutional restrictions, so senators said it will just enact what is called the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, which will contain more or less the same provisions.

The House of Representatives has also passed on 2nd reading a bill that would infuse P1.5 trillion into the budget to build infrastructure in rural areas, a bill designed to provide jobs to Filipinos affected by the lockdown, complementing Senator Bong Go’s pet initiative, the Balik Probinsya, Balik Pag-asa program.

The lower chamber has also passed on 3rd and final reading a bill that would punish anyone who discriminates against coronavirus frontliners, patients and repatriates, with jail time between 6 months up to 10 years, or a fine ranging from P50,000 up to P1 million. – Rappler.com