The Philippines on Friday, April 9, reported a record daily tally of 401 deaths due to COVID-19, bringing the country’s total death toll to 14,520.

In its daily coronavirus bulletin on Friday, the Department of Health (DOH) recorded 12,225 new confirmed cases, the country’s third biggest single-day tally since the pandemic began.

The Philippines now has a total caseload of 840,554. Of these cases, 21.2% or 178,351 cases are active or currently sick.

Meanwhile, recoveries are up by 946, raising the total to 647,683.

The health department noted that the reported fatalities on Friday include “213 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries [but] were reclassified as deaths after final validation.”

The DOH also reported a positivity rate of 21.4% out of 39,630 tests in its bulletin. These positive cases are added to the tally of confirmed cases only after further validation. The department explained that the process helps ensure that cases would not be recorded in duplicates and that all test results had been submitted.

The DOH said 10 laboratories were not able to submit their data on time.

On Monday, April 5, the DOH said it was looking to set up a “triage system” across local government units to manage the flow of patients needing health care. 

In recent days, relatives of COVID-19 patients have been turning to social media for help with finding available hospitals for admission, with some of them narrating how their loved ones died without proper treatment as there was no space left in hospitals.

An area dubbed “NCR Plus” – Metro Manila, Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, and Cavite – is under enhanced community quarantine until at least April 11 to address congestion in hospitals.

The DOH said on Friday that the government coronavirus task force will meet on Saturday, April 10, to decide on quarantine classifications for next week. – Rappler.com