MANILA, Philippines (Update 1, 5:26 p.m.) — The number of patients who have survived the coronavirus disease in the Philippines surpassed the 2,000 mark Tuesday, the Department of Health said.
DOH said 107 more people have recovered from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. This brought to 2,106 the total number of recoveries in the country.
But 25 more individuals succumbed to the severe respiratory disease. The nation’s death toll now stands at 751.
Since late January, 11,350 people have contracted COVID-19 in the Philippines, with the addition of 264 cases.
Of the new infections, 63% were from Metro Manila, 28% were from Central Visayas, while the remaining 9% were spread out across the archipelago.
The national government placed outbreak epicenter Metro Manila, its neighboring province Laguna and Cebu City in Central Visayas—which are at high risk of virus transmission—under “modified” enhanced community quarantine until May 31.
Moderate-risk areas such as Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon except Laguna, Cordillera Administrative Region, Central Visayas except Cebu City, Zamboanga Peninsula, Davao region and Caraga will be placed under a more relaxed general community quarantine.
Regions identified as low-risk such as Ilocos region, Mimaropa, Bicol region, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Soccsksargen and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will not be under ECQ or GCQ.
There are now 28 licensed laboratories across the country capable of processing samples for the new coronavirus. These laboratories were able to conduct 8,637 tests, bringing the current total number of tests to 181,668.
DOH is aiming to achieve a daily testing capacity of 30,000 by the end of the month.
The World Health Organization called on governments easing coronavirus restrictions to show “extreme vigilance” as fears there could be fresh waves of transmission loom large.
More than 285,000 people have died out of more than 4.1 million confirmed COVID-19 infections worldwide.
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