Philippine COVID-19 cases top 322,000; new recoveries breach 18,000

The number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the Philippines rose to 322,497 on Sunday after the Department of Health (DOH) announced 3,190 new infections.

Metro Manila still recorded the highest number of new cases at 1,279, followed by Rizal with 212, Laguna with 147, Cavite with 146, and Bulacan with 122.

Eighty-five percent or 2,709 of the newly reported cases contracted COVID-19 in the past 14 days.

Meanwhile, total recoveries rose to 273,079 after 18,065 more patients recovered from the respiratory disease.

The DOH earlier said it would report time-based recoveries every Sunday under the “Oplan Recovery” initiative, where asymptomatic and mild cases are re-tagged as recovered after completing a 14-day quarantine without developing symptoms.

The death toll also climbed to 5,776 with 100 new fatalities, 16 of whom died in October, 57 in September, while the rest succumbed to COVID-19 from May to August.

“Moreover, 19 cases previously tagged as recovered were reclassified as deaths after final validation,” the DOH added.

The remaining 43,642 are active cases undergoing treatment or quarantine, 85.4 percent of which are mild, 9.2 percent are asymptomatic, 1.7 percent are severe, and 3.8 percent are in critical condition.

As of October 3, the Philippines had 140 licensed laboratories that had tested over 3.6 million individuals, while 46 percent of COVID-19 intensive care unit beds nationwide were occupied, and 21 percent of mechanical ventilators were in use. — DVM, GMA News