Philippines logs new all-time high 15,310 COVID-19 cases

The Philippines on Friday reported an all-time high of 15,310 new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, of which over 3,000 are late cases, bringing the nationwide tally to 771,497 as seven laboratories failed to submit data on time.

The previous highest daily increase was 10,016 on March 29.

According to the Department of Health (DOH), the new cases include 3,709 case backlogs that were not reported on March 31 due to COVIDKaya system issues.

“All system issues have been resolved and measures were put in place to prevent the same issues from happening again,” it said.

The new infections brought the number of active cases in the country to 153,809, this year’s highest.

Of this, 96.3% are mild, 2.4% are asymptomatic, 0.5% are severe, and 0.5% are in critical condition.

The DOH also announced total recoveries climbed to 604,368 after 434 more patients recovered from the illness while 17 new fatalities brought the death toll to 13,320.

Twelve duplicate cases were also removed from the total case count.

“Moreover, 5 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation,” the DOH said.

Data from the DOH showed that 60 percent of the country’s intensive care unit beds are in use while 43 percent of the mechanical ventilators are occupied.

Meanwhile, the OCTA Research group said COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila between March 25 and April 1 only grew by 19% compared to the previous weekly increase of 60%.

The independent team of experts said the capital region averaged 4,899 new cases daily over the past week, bringing its reproduction number down to 1.58.

Meanwhile, the government is eyeing to ramp up COVID-19 tests from 80,000 to 90,000 per day in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.—LDF, GMA News