Philippines averaging 766 to 1,571 new COVID-19 cases daily in July

The Philippines has been averaging 766 to 1,571 new cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) so far in July, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said 766 is the average number of new cases per day by date of onset of illness while 1,571 is the average number of new cases per day by date of reporting.

“Mas mataas po ito kumpara sa nakita nating average number of cases per day noong buwan po ng Hunyo,” she said in a briefing.

“Dahil po [ito] sa pagtaas ng bilang ng kaso sa binabantayan nating lugar at dahil na rin po sa pagdami ng bilang ng clusters of community transmission na ating nakikita,” she added.

The DOH reported more than 1,200 new COVID-19 cases daily from July 3 to July 12.

In the past 10 days alone, the number of new infections breached the 2,000 mark four times, with a record-high 2,539 new cases reported on July 8. 

“We are experiencing an increase in the number of positive cases due to increase in testing and the identified community transmission. The increase has been gradual and our health system is able to cope with the increasing number of cases,” Vergeire said.

The Philippines so far has 85 licensed laboratories that have tested 926,252 individuals.

Vergeire also reported that the reproduction number, which refers to the average number of people that one COVID-19-positive individual can infect, was at 1.23 as of June 22.

“Bahagyang tumaas po ito kumpara sa naiulat natin noong nakaraang linggo na 1.09 as of June 17, ngunit ito po ay dahil mayroon tayong nakitang pagtaas ng bilang ng mga kaso,” she said.

Meanwhile, Vergeire said it was a “good indication” that the case doubling time has increased to 8.18 days as of July 12 compared to 7.97 as of July 3.

The Philippines has logged 57,006 COVID-19 cases with 20,731 recoveries and 1,599 deaths as of Monday afternoon. —LDF, GMA News