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.
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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