Philippines sees 82 new survivors, 13 more deaths from COVID-19
MANILA, Philippines (Updated, 5:02 p.m.) — The Philippines posted 82 new recoveries on Thursday, raising the number of patients who survived the coronavirus disease to 435.
For the second consecutive day, the total number of survivors surpassed the country’s virus death toll. Only 13 additional fatalities related to COVID-19 were reported, bringing the total number of deaths to 362.
A little over 3,300 are still being treated in hospitals.
As of Thursday, the novel coronavirus has infected 5,660 individuals in the country, with the addition of 207 new cases. In Southeast Asia, the Philippines has the highest number of COVID-19 cases followed by Indonesia and Malaysia.
But this should not “dishearten” Filipinos, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said, as he attributed the high number of detected infections to the country’s more aggressive testing efforts.
The number of people who have been tested stood at 42,215. But the figure is still far behind the over 130,000 tests conducted in Vietnam, which has 268 cases and no reported deaths.
Data from the Department of Health show there are 3,935 people infected in Metro Manila, 1,300 in the rest of Luzon, 123 in Visayas and 148 in Mindanao. Some 154 cases are still up for validation.
The total number of COVID-19 infections around the world soared past two million and the death toll topped 137,000.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine may be the only thing that can bring back “normalcy.” It is likely to take as many as 18 months to develop and test a coronavirus vaccine.
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