COVID-19 cases in Philippines rise by 320, total at 10,004
MANILA, Philippines (Update 1, 5:29 p.m.) — The number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the Philippines surpassed the 10,000-level Wednesday after health authorities reported 320 new cases—the highest single-day leap in a month.
The Department of Health logged 320 additional infections—a huge increase from the 199 cases registered the previous day. This pushed the nationwide count to 10,004 three months after the DOH first confirmed an infection.
Fifty-six percent of the new cases were recorded in outbreak epicenter Metro Manila, while 31% were detected in Central Visayas—where Cebu City—is located.
Both areas were placed under enhanced community quarantine until April 15.
More people also survived the illness, with the country reporting 98 additional recoveries. In total, there are 1,506 COVID-19 survivors since the start of the outbreak.
Meanwhile, 21 new fatalities related to COVID-19 were reported in the past 24 hours. This brought the death toll to 658.
‘Flattening the curve’
Despite limited testing, an epidemiologist from the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health said that the coronavirus curve in the Philippines has started flattening.
Dr. John Wong, who serves in the government’s coronavirus task force, said it now takes for the number of cases and deaths longer time to double.
Before the national government placed the main island of Luzon on enhanced community quarantine in March, the average case doubling time nationwide was 2.5 days. Wong said the average time for the number of infections to double now takes 4.6 days.
The average doubling time for deaths now takes 5.7 days nationwide from the previous four days.
“We still cannot say we’ve won against COVID-19 until we have a vaccine. But at least for now temporarily, we’ve been able to control the outbreak and buy time for the health system to increase its capacity,” Wong said.
There are 23 licensed COVID-19 testing laboratories across the country. As of Wednesday, the number of people tested for coronavirus stood at 124,429.
The DOH is targeting a daily capacity of 30,000 tests by May 31 despite missing its initial target of 8,000 tests per day by the end of April.
The coronavirus pandemic has claimed the lives of 257,454 people out of the 3.6 million infected worldwide.
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