COVID-19 cases in Philippines near 800,000

The Philippines recorded more than 10,000 new cases of COVID-19 for the 3rd straight day, pushing the country’s caseload near 800,000 on Sunday, April 4.

The Department of Health (DOH) reported 11,028 additional confirmed cases, bringing the total number of cases to 795,051.

This is the 3rd consecutive day that new cases topped 10,000. It followed the highest-ever 15,310 cases on Friday, April 2 – which included around 3,700 cases reported late – and the 12,576 new cases on Saturday, April 3.

Of the total cases as of Sunday, 135,526 or 17% are active or currently sick. The DOH said in its bulletin that around 97% of these are mild cases.

In the first 4 days of April alone, at least 47,763 new cases have been logged, excluding duplicates removed by the DOH.

The country’s total tally breached 700,000 cases just 9 days ago on March 26.

The DOH also reported 2 more deaths on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 13,425.

Meanwhile, recoveries were up by 41,205, mainly due to the DOH’s weekly time-based tagging of mild and asymptomatic cases as recoveries. This is the highest one-day tally for reported recoveries, surpassing the 40,397 set on August 16, 2020.

As a result, total recoveries from COVID-19 now stand at 646,100.

Five labs failed to submit their data to the DOH’s data system in time for Sunday’s bulletin.

The government extended for one more week, or until April 11, the enhanced community quarantine being implemented in Metro Manila and 4 surrounding provinces, collectively known as the “NCR Plus” bubble, due to the spike in cases. Sunday was the original last day of the lockdown, which began on March 29.

Beds for moderate to severe cases of COVID-19 will also be added in hospitals, said the government, following multiple reports of critical patients being turned away by hospitals saying they are already at full capacity. – Rappler.com