1,509 new cases bring Philippines’ COVID-19 tally to 362,243

The Philippines’ coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) tally rose to 362,243 on Wednesday after the Department of Health (DOH) announced 1,509 new infections as 13 laboratories failed to submit reports on time.

This marks the fifth straight day in which less than 3,000 new cases were recorded.

The areas with the highest number of new infections were Rizal with 83, Cavite with 82, Manila City with 66, Baguio with 65, and Iloilo City with 57.

Ninety percent or 1,356 of the newly reported cases caught COVID-19 in the past 14 days.

Meanwhile, total recoveries rose to 311,506 after 911 more patients recovered from the respiratory disease.

The death toll also climbed to 6,747 with 60 new fatalities, 45 of whom died this month.

“Moreover, 16 cases previously tagged as recovered were reclassified as deaths,” the DOH added.

The other 43,990 are active cases undergoing treatment or quarantine, 83 percent of which are mild, 11.6 percent are asymptomatic, 2 percent are severe, and 3.4 percent are in critical condition.

As of October 20, the Philippines had 149 licensed laboratories that had tested over 4.2 million individuals while 47 percent of COVID-19 intensive care unit beds nationwide were occupied and 22 percent of mechanical ventilators were in use.

Malacañang earlier expressed confidence that the Philippine Red Cross will soon resume its full COVID-19 testing operations after the humanitarian organization agreed to accept an initial payment of the government’s P930-million debt. —LDF, GMA News