MANILA, Philippines — Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the Philippines surpassed Wednesday the caseload of mainland China—where the severe respiratory illness emerged late last year.
The Department of Health reported 1,874 additional COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 85,486.
Mainland China had a total of 84,060 cases as of Wednesday morning, according to the latest bulletin posted by the World Health Organization Western Pacific Region. Cases in China’s special administrative regions of Hong Kong (2,884) and Macau (46) were separately tallied.
#COVID19 confirmed cases and deaths in the @WHO Western Pacific Region as of 10 AM Manila time on 29 July ????
— World Health Organization Western Pacific (@WHOWPRO) July 29, 2020
? For more info on #coronavirus cases in the region, see the dashboard here: https://t.co/EIf3BcbBF7 pic.twitter.com/AEDOsT0dmE
The coronavirus pandemic emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. China had largely brought local transmission under control but clusters of infections were being detected recently.
Researchers from the University of the Philippines earlier projected that the country could reach 85,000 coronavirus cases with 2,000 deaths by end-July.
Confirmed deaths in the Philippines stood at 1,962, while the number of recoveries was at 26,996 or only 32% of the country’s confirmed cases. There were 56,528 active cases or patients who are currently ill as of Wednesday.
China, meanwhile, posted 4,634 deaths related to COVID-19 and 482 patients who remain hospitalized.
The Philippines reported its first coronvirus case on January 30—a Chinese woman who arrived from Wuhan, the ground zero of the virus. Her male companion who died in the Philippines was the first coronavirus fatality recorded outside mainland China.
The country has been seeing a surge in the number of cases following the easing of movement restrictions that came with the reopening of the economy. Most of the cases are concentrated in Metro Manila.
Now, the Philippines has the second highest number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia, behind Indonesia with 104,432 cases.
The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 659,000 people worldwide, with nearly 16.66 million infected. — Gaea Katreena Cabico with report from Agence France-Presse