COVID-19 cases in Philippines jump to 4,428, death toll at 247

The Philippine International Convention Center is one of the venues that have been converted into temporary quarantine centers to supplement the Philippines' limited healthcare capacity.
The STAR/Edd Gumban

MANILA, Philippines (Update 1, 4:41 p.m.) — The Department of Health on Saturday confirmed 233 more local cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), bringing the official tally to 4,428 from the previous count of 4,195.

The local COVID-19 death toll now stands at 247 after the Health department announced 26 new fatalities — the highest number of deaths reported in a single day this week.

Seventeen new recoveries were also announced, bringing the total count to 157.

On Saturday, the Department of Health also released a new set of guidelines for detecting cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) which no longer account for asymptomatic  cases with exposure history as "persons under monitoring."

Meanwhile, over 1.52 million cases of COVID-19 have been recorded globally by the World Health Organization in its latest situation report.

The first person to officially die from the novel coronavirus was a 61-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan on January 9. Three months later, more than 100,000 people have succumbed to the disease. — with report from Agence France-Presse

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