Philippines’ COVID-19 cases top 252,000 with 4,040 new infections

The Philippines on Friday announced 4,040 more coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections, bringing the nationwide tally of cases to 252,964, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

Most of the new cases reported came from the National Capital Region with 1,813, followed by Cavite with 435, Rizal with 218, Bulacan with 195, and Laguna with 171.

Sixty-eight percent of the new cases acquired the virus in the past 14 days. A total of 23 duplicate cases were also removed from the total case count.

The DOH also announced that total recoveries rose to 186,606 after 566 more patients have recovered from the illness.

Meanwhile, 42 more fatalities brought the death toll to 4,108. Among the new deaths, 25 occurred in September, 11 in August, two in July, one in June, and three in April.

There are also 62,250 active cases undergoing treatment or quarantine, of which 88.8 percent are mild, 8.4 percent are asymptomatic, 1.1 percent are severe, and 1.7 percent are in critical condition.

At present, the Philippines has 118 licensed laboratories that have tested a total of 2,817,101 individuals while 47 percent of the country’s intensive care unit beds for COVID-19 patients are occupied and 27 percent of mechanical ventilators are in use.

Earlier, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the DOH may release its omnibus guidelines for various COVID-19 testing procedures next week. -MDM, GMA News