The Philippines went back to reporting over 2,000 new cases on Thursday, July 23, bringing the total to 74,390.

The Department of Health (DOH) announced 2,200 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in their regular press briefing. Around 70% of these new infections, 1,546, come from Metro Manila, still the country’s pandemic epicenter.

A far second is Cebu province, the source of 246 new cases.

This is the first time the country reported more than 2,000 cases after 3 days of reporting over 1,000 new cases.

The last time the single-day rise in cases reached past the 2,000 mark was on Sunday, July 19, when 2,241 new cases were reported.

Two-digit rise in deaths

After 3 days of single-digit additional deaths, the Philippines recorded 28 new deaths on Thursday.

DOH spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire attributed this apparent spike to deaths in Central Visayas that were only recently included in their database. However, she herself said that only 7 out of the 28 deaths were from Central Visayas. The remaining 21 were from Metro Manila.

Twenty-six out of the 28 deaths took place in July. One of the deaths happened in May while another happened in April.

An overwhelming majority of coronavirus cases in the country, 91%, are mild cases, reflecting a worldwide trend. Meanwhile, 9% are asymptomatic cases. Severe cases comprise 0.5% of the total while critical cases are at 0.4%. – Rappler.com