Philippines has now surpassed the 200,000-mark in coronavirus cases.

The Department of Health (DOH) reported that as of Wednesday, August 26, there are now a total of 202,361 coronavirus cases in the country.

It is a big jump from Tuesday, August 25, because of a single-day 5,277 increase.

Most of the new cases (2,616 or 60%) still came from Metro Manila. A 20% chunk, or 868 cases, are from Calabarzon. Western Visayas only shared 5% or 220 of the newly reported cases.

There were 1,131 new recoveries reported on Wednesday, raising the total number of recoveries to 133,460.

The DOH also reported 99 new deaths, bringing the total death toll to 3,137.

A total of 5,277 confirmed cases are reported based on the total tests done by 95 out of 109 current operational labs.

The DOH once again clarified its data, saying that in the death toll, 80 duplicates were removed. Of this number, 58 turned out to be recoveries.

Meanwhile, 9 cases previously reported as recovered turned out to be deaths.

“These numbers undergo constant cleaning and validation,” the DOH said.

There are only 48% available ICU beds across the entire country, and only 26% available ICU beds in epicenter Metro Manila.

Metro Manila has been reverted to general community quarantine (GCQ).

Researchers from the Octa research group of experts predict that under GCQ, nationwide cases may reach 230,000 by the end of August. – Rappler.com