MANILA, Philippines (Update 1, 5:34 p.m.) — The number of novel coronavirus infections in the Philippines increased to 6,710 with the detection of 111 new cases, the Department of Health reported Wednesday.
The department logged 39 additional recoveries, taking the number of people who survived the viral disease to 693. Some 3,206 patients are still being treated in hospitals.
Meanwhile, the death toll went up to 446 as nine more individuals died. This is the second day in a row that the DOH reported only nine fatalities.
COVID-19 cases remain largely concentrated in Metro Manila. The capital region accounts for 68% of total cases.
There are 1,477 cases in the rest of Luzon, 275 in Visayas and 165 in Mindanao. Some 202 cases are still up for validation.
The DOH on Tuesday said it now takes five days for the confirmed COVID-19 infections to double—a “marked improvement” from the previous doubling time of five days. But it was still far from the target of a doubling time of 30 days, the agency stressed.
To date, 61,049 individuals have been tested in the country.
The Luzon-wide lockdown is set to end on April 30 but President Rodrigo Duterte is yet to decide whether to prolong, lift or relax the community quarantine.
More than 2.5 million people across the globe have now contracted the new coronavirus. Of the figure, 177,496 have died.
Related video: