MANILA, Philippines (Update 2, 6:23 p.m.) — The number of confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the Philippines soared past 68,000 Monday, with over 1,500 new infections reported.
The Department of Health logged 1,521 additional COVID-19 infections in the country, bringing the national caseload to 68,898.
Metro Manila accounted for 81% of the newly-announced cases. The DOH earlier said that in just a week alone or from July 12 to 18, the capital region reported 7,413 infections.
Cavite and Laguna were in the far second with 51 cases each, followed by Rizal with 34 cases and Davao del Sur with 22 cases.
Recoveries also went up to 23,072 after 607 new COVID-19 survivors were added to the count. Total recoveries accounted for around 34% of the country’s confirmed cases.
But another four deaths were recorded, raising the death toll to 1,835.
The DOH said 79 duplicates had been removed from the total count. As of Monday, the number of active cases stood at 43,991.
Despite rise in COVID-19 cases, Metro Manila will continue to be under general community quarantine until July 31. Meanwhile, Cebu City was downgraded to modified enhanced community quarantine.
Several hospitals in the capital region announced they reached or are nearing full utilization of their facilities dedicated to COVID-19 cases.
The DOH said some 1,087,528 people in the country had been tested for coronavirus.
Over 14.43 million people have been infected with novel coronavirus since it was first reported in China in late 2019. The disease has killed more than 605,000 worldwide.