Philippine COVID-19 cases near 470,000 as recoveries top 438,000

The Philippines’ coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) tally rose to 469,886 on Sunday after the Department of Health (DOH) announced 883 new infections as 15 laboratories failed to submit reports on time.

Rizal tallied the highest number of new cases at 66, followed by Quezon City with 50, Benguet with 47, Davao City with 42, and Manila with 35.

Meanwhile, the total number of recoveries rose to 438,678 after 7,635 more patients recovered from the respiratory disease.

The DOH reports time-based recoveries every Sunday as part of “Oplan Recovery,” 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 9,109 with 42 new fatalities.

“Moreover, 10 cases previously tagged as recovered were reclassified as deaths,” the DOH added.

There are also 22,099 active cases undergoing treatment or quarantine.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier approved a two-week extension of the ban on travelers from the United Kingdom, where a new, more transmissible variant of COVID-19 was recently discovered.

Travelers who came from countries where infections caused by the new variant were recorded will also have to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine upon arrival in the Philippines.

The developments followed the DOH’s announcement that a traveler from the UK tested positive for COVID-19 last Friday.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque also said American drugmaker Pfizer had applied for emergency use authorization for the vaccine it created with BioNTech.

An infectious diseases expert explained that the COVID-19 vaccines currently in the market could still work against the new variant from the UK.  — DVM, GMA News