Philippines reports 276 new COVID-19 cases; recoveries now 1,043

The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday reported 276 new cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), raising total infections nationwide to 8,488.

The number of patients who have recovered from the respiratory illness also widened the gap over the death toll after the DOH announced 20 new recoveries for a total of 1,043.

Meanwhile, 10 more people have succumbed to the disease, bringing the total number of deaths to 568.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire earlier said it is “quite risky” for the DOH to declare that infections have already plateaued. 

She also said that the department has hired more laboratory encoders to clear testing backlogs. 

The DOH previously said its goal was to expand the country’s testing capacity to 8,000 by the end of April, but testing centers were only able to process a minimum of 2,895 samples and a maximum of 6,420 daily as of Wednesday. 

Vergeire reported that 92,822 people have been tested for COVID-19 as of Wednesday, 82,438 or 89 percent of whom tested negative while 10,245 or 11 percent were positive.

These figures do not include data from two private laboratories that had not yet reported to the DOH.

The health official explained that the number of people who have tested positive differs from the reported number of confirmed cases due to the validation and processing of results. —LDF/NB, GMA News