DOH now monitoring 638 clustering of COVID-19 cases, up from 488

The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday said at least 638 clustering of COVID-19 cases are being monitored nationwide.

At a press conference, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that 513 of them were found within communities and 49 in hospitals.

“We have a total of clusters, for now currently, at 638,” she said.

According to Vergeire, the number of clustering that are being monitored in jails remained at 24.

On July 9, the DOH reported 488 clustering of COVID-19 cases in the country, which means at least 150 new clustering of cases are found. From July 15 to 17, it  said 79  additional areas of clustering  were reported.

DOH said the clustering are found in the following regions:

• National Capital Region: 170
• Central Visayas: 122
• CALABARZON: 55
• Eastern Visayas: 36
• Central Luzon: 25
• Davao Region: 20
• Western Visayas: 20
• Bicol Region: 13
• Northern Mindanao: 12
• Zamboanga Peninsula: 11
• CARAGA: 8
• BARMM: 7
• Cagayan Valley: 5
• SOCCSKSARGEN: 4
• MIMAROPA: 3
• Cordillera Administrative Region: 2

Vergeire earlier said the increase in COVID-19 cases was due to clustering of cases and community transmission, and not due to improved testing anymore.

As of Sunday, the DOH recorded 67,456 of COVID-19 cases with 1,831 fatalities and 22,465 recoveries. — RSJ, GMA News