COVID-19 cases in Philippines exceed 40,000 with 1,531 new infections
MANILA, Philippines (Update 6:02 p.m.) — The country’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caseload surpassed the 40,000-mark Friday after the Department of Health logged 1,531 more COVID-19 infections—the highest single-day increase so far.
To date, the severe respiratory illness has sickened 40,336 people in the Philippines five months since a case was first detected in the country.
Of the additional cases, 688 were newly-validated and 843 were reported late.
Most of the fresh cases were from Metro Manila with 255 infections, followed by Central Visayas with 138. Twenty-four were from the repatriates, while the remaining 271 of the newly-validated cases were from other regions in the country.
Meanwhile, 163 of the late cases were detected in Central Visayas, while 158 were found in Metro Manila. Other regions accounted for most of these cases at 514, while repatriates accounted for only eight.
While the capital region is still the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the country, Cebu City in Central Visayas has been identified as a hotspot after seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks.
Experts from OCTA Research projected that the Philippines may see 60,000 COVID-19 cases by the end of July as the country is still experiencing “significant” community transmission of the illness. They also projected that deaths related to the disease may reach 1,300 by end of the month.
Earlier, the researcher estimated that COVID-19 infections in the country would reach 40,000 by end-June.
Record-high recoveries
The DOH also reported record-high 400 recoveries. This raised the number of COVID-19 survivors to 11,073.
Total recoveries accounted for around 27% of the nation’s confirmed cases.
But the death toll climbed to 1,280 with the addition of six fatalities. All of the deaths occurred last month.
A total of 696,756 people have been so far tested for coronavirus in the country, latest data from the DOH showed.
The coronavirus pandemic has killed at least 517,000 out of the 10.81 million people infected globally since the pathogen first emerged in China late last year.
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