MANILA, Philippines (Update 1, 5:32 p.m.) — The country’s confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections jumped to 27,238 Wednesday after 457 cases were added to the national tally.
Some 342 cases were identified as “fresh” or patients who tested positive within the last three days. Forty-two percent of these cases were from Metro Manila, while around 30% were from Central Visayas. The remaining 28% were spread out across the country.
Meanwhile, 115 cases were from the Department of Health’s validation backlog—51% of which were detected in Central Visayas. Metro Manila accounted for 25% of the late cases.
Hundreds of cases were still being detected daily despite the implementation of quarantine measures for three months.
The DOH also reported 268 new recoveries, raising the total number of COVID-19 survivors to 6,820. The day before, the country logged record-high 301 additional recoveries.
But five more fatalities were recorded, pushing the death toll to 1,108.
A total of 484,181 individuals have been tested so far as of Monday.
President Rodrigo Duterte once again placed Cebu City under enhanced community quarantine after it saw a marked increase in COVID-19 cases. With 2,656 active cases as of Monday, it is now the city with the highest number of active cases in the country.
Metro Manila—still considered the nation’s outbreak epicenter—would remain under general community quarantine until the end of the month.
Dexamethasone no ‘magic pill’ vs COVID-19
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the steroid dexamethasone is not a “magic pill” against the severe respiratory illness.
“Hindi ito lunas sa COVID-19. Inaadminister ito sa critical patients para ma-manage ang kanilang kalagayan. Hindi rin nito mapipigilan ang pagkahawa mula sa COVID-19,” Vergeire said.
(This is not a cure to COVID-19. This is only administered to critical patients to manage their conditions. This will not also prevent people from contracting COVID-19.)
The department issued the statement after preliminary results of a study by Oxford University researchers showed that dexamethasone reduced deaths by 35% among those who could only breathe with the help of a ventilator. It also reduced deaths of those receiving oxygen by a fifth.
Vergeire stressed the study needs to be peer-reviewed first before its findings are deemed acceptable.
At least 8.1 million people have now been infected with COVID-19 worldwide since it emerged in China late in 2019, and more than 440,000 people have died.
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