MANILA, Philippines — The number of coronavirus cases in the Philippines rose to over 385,000 after 2,298 new infections were recorded, the Department of Health said Monday.
To date, a total of 385,400 individuals have had COVID-19 in the country.
The latest bulletin showed that Benguet recorded the highest increase in coronavirus infections with 188, followed by Davao City with 166, Rizal with 119, Quezon City with 116 and Bulacan with 91.
Monday’s figures did not include data from 14 testing laboratories that failed to submit their reports on time.
Total recoveries increased to 348,830 by 87. The DOH reported Sunday 17,727 additional recoveries, which is part of its Oplan Recovery program.
But the death toll climbed to 7,269 after 32 more people died from the respiratory illness.
Excluding deaths and recoveries, the country’s active cases now stand at 29,301. This means patients who are still undergoing treatment and quarantine comprise 7.6% of the total confirmed cases.
The DOH said it has observed that the number of COVID-19 cases in the country is down by 25% over the past two weeks.
“Hopefully, we’ll reach the point that the number will continue to decrease and we will no longer report cases,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in Filipino.
Last week, the Philippine Red Cross resumed its coronavirus testing after the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. paid P500 million, less than half of its P1.1-billion debt.
The temporary halt in the operations of the humanitarian organization led to the drop of reported cases in Metro Manila and provinces in Calabarzon by as much as 50%, crippling the government’s isolation program and affecting testing information.
Of the 17,564 individuals who were tested Sunday, 1,057 or 6% tested positive for COVID-19, the DOH said.
Hundreds of thousands were evacuated as cyclone Rolly (international name: Goni), a super typhoon at its peak, battered South Luzon over the weekend. The disaster struck at a time when the country continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic.
The DOH stressed the importance of complying with infection control measures while seeking temporary shelter.
Globally, the new coronavirus has infected more than 46.5 million individuals, with over 1.2 million deaths.