Philippines logs 2,674 new COVID-19 cases; total nears 320,000

Philippine coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases rose to 319,330 on Saturday after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 2,674 new infections, marking the fifth straight day in which less than 3,000 new cases were reported.

Most of the new cases came from the National Capital Region with 1,046. This was followed by Cavite with 257, Rizal with 165, Batangas with 137, and Laguna with 121.

Eighty-four percent or 2,237 of the newly reported cases acquired the virus in the past 14 days. A total of 22 cases were removed from the total case count.

Total recoveries also rose to 255,046 after 459 more patients recovered from the illness, according to the DOH.

The Health Department earlier insisted that the country was doing well in terms of the number of recoveries despite the Philippines ranking 20th on the list of countries with the most number of people infected with COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the nationwide death toll climbed to 5,678 with 62 new fatalities, of which 47 occurred in September, six in August, five in July, one in June, and one in May.

Of the 58,606 active cases undergoing treatment or quarantine, 87.1 percent are mild, 8.8. percent are asymptomatic, 1.2 percent are severe, and 2.8 percent are in critical condition.

At present, the country has 138 licensed laboratories that have tested over 3.6 million individuals while 47 percent of the intensive care unit beds for COVID-19 patients are occupied and 22 percent of the mechanical ventilators are in use.

Given the COVID-19 numbers, the Department of Education said it was ready for the scheduled opening of classes on Monday, October 5.

Malacañang meanwhile said that it was s not ruling out the possibility that Metro Manila could be shifted to a modified general community quarantine in November should the country’s COVID-19 cases continue to decline.  — DVM, GMA News