Philippine COVID-19 tally tops 339,000

The Philippines’ coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caseload increased to 339,341 on Sunday after the Department of Health (DOH) announced 2,502 new infections, marking the seventh straight day in which new cases fell below 3,000.

Metro Manila still logged the highest number of new infections at 782, followed by Rizal with 141, Laguna with 128, Cavite with 125, and Bulacan with 119.

Eighty-four percent or 2,106 of the newly reported cases contracted COVID-19 in the past 14 days.

Meanwhile, the total number of recoveries rose to 293,075 after 17,057 more patients recovered from the respiratory disease.

The DOH reports time-based recoveries every Sunday as part of its “Oplan Recovery” initiative, where asymptomatic and mild cases are re-tagged as recovered after completing 14 days of quarantine without developing symptoms. 

The death toll also climbed to 6,321 with 83 new fatalities, only 24 of whom died in October while the rest succumbed to COVID-19 between March and September.

“Moreover, 41 cases previously tagged as recovered were reclassified as deaths,” the DOH added.

There are also 39,945 active cases undergoing treatment or quarantine, 83 percent of which are mild, 11.2 percent are asymptomatic, 1.8 percent are severe, and 3.9 percent are in critical condition.

Worldwide, COVID-19 has claimed 1,067,766 lives and infected over 36.9 million people.

The Philippines still has the highest number of infections across the Western Pacific Region, according to the World Health Organization. — LA, GMA News