The Philippines logged 1,640 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, October 20 – the lowest since September 22.

The new confirmed cases reported on Tuesday brought the total number of COVID-19 infections in the country to 360,775.

The new daily figure, however, was only based on 132 laboratories out of 147 licensed testing hubs.

The last time the daily record of new cases was below 2,000 was on October 13, when 1,990 cases were reported. At the time, 128 out of 145 laboratories submitted their reports.

On September 22, 1,635 new cases were reported from 121 out of 130 laboratories.

The DOH reported 17 new deaths due to the coronavirus disease, bringing the death toll to 6,690, while the recoveries are up by 369, raising total recoveries to 310,642.

Of the total confirmed cases, 43,443 are active.

It wasn’t clear yet if the 15 laboratories which were unable to submit their reports are those being operated by the Philippine Red Cross (PRC).

On October 15, PRC stopped conducting free coronavirus tests for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), medical frontliners, and other Filipinos due to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation’s (PhilHealth) P930-million ($19.14-million) debt to the organization.

The PRC operates 21 of the 147 licensed testing hubs nationwide. 

The relatively low number of new cases in the country was released on the same day that the Octa Research Group sent out a report urging the government to put coronavirus “high-risk” areas on “localized lockdowns with stricter border controls” to curb the further spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, the DOH said that returning Filipinos coming from countries classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as having a low to medium prevalence of COVID-19 cases will no longer need to undergo quarantine and testing upon arrival in the Philippines. (READ: Quarantine, testing not required for asymptomatic Filipinos coming from low-mid risk countries)

As of Monday, the Philippines still has the highest number of COVID-19 infections in Southeast Asia, despite having one of the longest lockdowns in the world. – Rappler.com