After 4 straight days of over 7,000 reported COVID-19 cases, the Philippines on Tuesday, March 23, logged 5,867 new infections. This brings the total caseload in the country to 677,653.

Coronavirus deaths also continued to rise with 20 new fatalities, bringing the death toll to 12,992. Recoveries grew by 620 to 578,461.

Of the total cases, 86,200 are active – the highest reported number of active cases since the pandemic began.

Though Tuesday’s reported cases eased down to over 5,000, this is still higher than the average daily cases in late February, when the surge of infections began.

On Monday, the DOH said the more infectious variants of COVID-19, such as the United Kingdom (B117) and South Africa (B1351) variants, are now present in all cities in virus epicenter Metro Manila.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said these variants have helped drive the surge of COVID-19 cases in the capital region, but she stressed that public’s non-compliance with health protocols still was the “root cause.”

After COVID-19 cases shot up to nearly 8,000 over the weekend, the Philippine government announced stricter quarantine measures, or what is essentially a hybrid of the general community quarantine and modified enhanced community quarantine structure enforced within a new Metro Manila-Rizal-Bulacan-Cavite-Laguna bubble. – Rappler.com