4,578 new COVID-19 infections highest in 6 months; active cases now over 52K

The Philippines’ tally of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases surged to 611,618 on Friday with 4,578 new infections, the highest in six months, even as five laboratories failed to submit data on time.

According to the Department of Health (DOH), this pushed the total active cases in the country to 52,012, also this year’s highest.

Among these, 92.2 percent are mild, 4.1 percent are asymptomatic, 1.5 percent are severe, and 1.5 percent are in critical condition.

Total recoveries climbed to 546,912 after 272 more patients recovered from the illness.

Eighty-seven more fatalities also brought the death toll to 12,694.

According to the DOH, eight duplicate cases were removed from the total case count while 26 cases that were previously tagged as recovered were reclassified as deaths.

Data from the DOH also showed that 56 percent of the country’s intensive care unit beds are available while 74 percent of the mechanical ventilators are ready for use.

According to a report on “24 Oras,” the Philippines still reported the highest number of new cases, total cases, and total deaths among countries in the Western Pacific region.

The data from the World Health Organization (WHO) does not include today’s figures.

As of March 12, the data showed that the Philippines reported the highest new cases at 4,740, followed by Malaysia with 1,647 and Japan with 1,288.

The country also reported the highest cases with 607,048, followed by Japan with 444,289 and Malaysia with 319,364.

Meanwhile, the Philippines’ death toll is also the highest among Western Pacific countries. This was followed by Japan with 8,451 fatalities and Korea with 1,662.

The OCTA Research Group earlier said that 12 Metro Manila cities were among the top 15 areas with a “significant” upward trend in the number of new COVID-19 cases.

It earlier said that the cases in the National Capital Region (NCR) are "spreading more quickly than the July-August surge."

Amid the spike in cases, the Metro Manila Council has agreed to implement uniform curfew hours from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. in NCR starting Monday, March 15, and will last for two weeks.—LDF, GMA News