Philippines' COVID-19 cases exceed 65,000 with 2,357 new infections

The number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the country exceeded 65,000 on Saturday after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 2,357 new infections, bringing the total to 65,304.

The DOH also announced that 321 more patients have recovered from the virus, bringing the total to 22,067, while the death toll increased to 1,773 with new 113 fatalities.

The five provinces or cities with the highest number of new cases are the National Capital Region with 1,1824, Laguna with 105, Cavite with 62, Cebu with 49, and Rizal with 39.

Meanwhile, the DOH removed 54 duplicate cases from the total case count.

There are also 41,464 active cases. Among this, 90% are mild, 9.1% are asymptomatic, 0.4% are severe, and 0.4% are in critical condition.

As of July 16, the country has 66 RT-PCR laboratories and 22 licensed GeneXpert laboratories which have tested a total of 1,039,191 individuals.

Experts from the University of the Philippines projected that the number of COVID-19 cases in the country may reach 80,000 by July 31 due to a "genuine surge" of infections. -MDM, GMA News