2,037 new COVID-19 cases bring Philippines’ tally to 578,381

The Philippines’ coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) tally rose to 578,381 on Monday after the Department of Health announced 2,037 new infections as one laboratory failed to submit data on time.

This is the fifth consecutive day where more than 2,000 cases were reported.

The total number of recoveries also climbed to 534,351 after 86 more patients recovered from the respiratory illness.

The death toll increased to 12,322 with four new fatalities.

The DOH said eight duplicates were removed from the total case count. Of these, six are recoveries.

There are also 31,708 active cases undergoing treatment or quarantine.

Data from the DOH also showed that 60% of the country’s intensive care unit beds are available, while 77% mechanical ventilators are ready for use.

China’s donation of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine doses arrived at the Villamor Airbase on a Chinese Y-20 Transporter aircraft on Sunday.

The first batch of vaccines will be rolled out to several hospitals in Metro Manila, marking a turning point in the country’s battle against COVID-19.

Earlier in the day, University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital director Dr. Gerardo Legaspi became the Philippines' first official recipient of a vaccine against COVID-19.

Several government officials, including vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., Food and Drug Administration chief Eric Domingo and testing czar Secretary Vince Dizon also received the Sinovac shot.

Meanwhile, Galvez said there is no definite date yet for the arrival of the 3.5 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine.

So far, only the vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Sinovac have been approved for emergency use by the FDA.

The government aims to secure 148 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to vaccinate up to 70 million Filipinos this year.—LDF, GMA News