PHL's almost 116k COVID-19 cases a close second to Indonesian total

The Philippines’ tally of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases leapt to 115,980 on Wednesday after the Department of Health (DOH) announced 3,462 more infections.

For more than an hour, the Philippine total was Southeast Asia's highest COVID-19 tally until Indonesia reported 1,809 new cases on Wednesday afternoon. Indonesia's total number of cases is now at 116,865.

The Philippines still has the second-highest COVID-19 tally and highest number of active cases across Southeast Asia at 47,587, followed by Indonesia with 37,618.

Wednesday's cases in the country marks the seventh consecutive day during which over 3,000 new infections were reported.

This comes after the DOH reported a record-breaking number of new cases five times in the past week alone.

The five provinces with the highest number of new cases were Metro Manila with 2,434, Laguna with 105, Rizal with 101, Cavite with 73, and Cebu with 62.

Meanwhile, total recoveries also rose to 66,270 after 222 more patients recovered from the respiratory illness, while the death toll climbed to 2,123 with nine new fatalities.

The DOH said figures reported on Wednesday were based on data submitted by 84 out of the 98 operational laboratories.

The department also removed 75 duplicate cases from the total tally of infections.

As of August 5, the Philippines had 74 certified polymerase chain reaction facilities and 24 GeneXpert laboratories that had tested a total of 1,527,133 individuals.

Fifty-five percent of intensive care unit beds for COVID-19 patients nationwide were also occupied while 31 percent of mechanical ventilators were in use. —LDF, GMA News