Philippine COVID-19 tally tops 286,000; new recoveries hit 20,021

The number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the Philippines soared to 286,743 on Sunday after the Department of Health (DOH) announced 3,311 new infections, marking the 13th straight day in which over 3,000 new cases were reported.

Metro Manila still recorded the highest number of new infections at 1,435, followed by Negros Occidental with 261, Laguna with 231, Rizal with 204, and Cavite with 174.

Eighty-four percent or 2,774 of the newly reported cases caught COVID-19 in the past 14 days.

Meanwhile, total recoveries rose to 229,865 after 20,021 more patients recovered from the respiratory disease.

The DOH earlier said it would report time-based recoveries every Sunday under its “Oplan Recovery” initiative, 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 4,984 with 55 new fatalities, 33 of whom died in September, 17 in August, and five in July.

“Moreover, 28 cases previously tagged as recovered were reclassified to deaths (25) and active (3) cases after final validation,” the DOH added.

The remaining 51,894 are active cases undergoing treatment or quarantine, 86.6 percent of which are mild, 8.7 percent are asymptomatic, 1.4 percent are severe, and 3.3 percent are in critical condition.

As of September 19, the Philippines had 128 licensed laboratories that had tested over 3.1 million individuals while 50 percent of COVID-19 intensive care unit beds nationwide were occupied, and 26 percent of mechanical ventilators were in use. — DVM, GMA News