Philippines logs 1,046 additional cases as total infections reach 16,634
MANILA, Philippines (Update 1, 10:12 p.m.) — The number of coronavirus disease cases in the country surged to 16,634 Friday, two days before outbreak epicenter Metro Manila and other areas at high-risk of virus transmission transition to more relaxed community quarantine.
The Department of Health logged 1,046 additional infections Friday evening.
Of the figure, only 46 were “fresh” cases and while 1,000 were “late” cases. Fresh cases refer to test results released within the last three days, while late cases refer to those released to patients more than four days.
The agency now reports the breakdown of newly-validated cases and those which have been delayed a day after 539 cases were added to the nation’s caseload. The DOH said only 20% or 109 of those cases were newly-validated.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the increase in new cases is expected in the coming days with the hiring of more personnel who encode and validate cases and the rollout of a fully-automated platform.
The health department also recorded 122 new recoveries, raising the total number of patients who have survived the severe respiratory illness to 3,720. Total recoveries account for 22% of the country’s confirmed cases.
But the fatality country rose by 21 to 942.
As of May 28, some 305,115 individuals have been tested in the country.
President Rodrigo Duterte announced Thursday evening that the country’s lockdown—one of the longest in the world—will be eased further. Metro Manila, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Albay, the province of Pangasinan and the city of Davao will shift to general community quarantine by June 1.
In areas under GCQ, most businesses will be allowed to open and public transportation will return in a limited form.
The novel coronavirus pandemic has infected at least 5.8 million people and killed over 361,000 since it first emerged in China in December last year.
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