COVID-19 tally in Philippines hits 388,137 with 987 new cases
MANILA, Philippines (Updated, 4:57 p.m.) — The Philippines reported fewer than 1,000 cases of coronavirus Wednesday, the lowest since July, partly due to the effects of Typhoon Rolly, which lashed Southern Luzon over the weekend.
The DOH logged 987 new COVID-19 infections—the lowest in a single day since July 14 when the country had 634 additional cases. The latest figure brought the country’s caseload to 388,137.
DOH said the relatively low number of newly-reported cases is attributed to the effects of Typhoon Rolly (international name: Goni). "Rolly", the world’s strongest storm this year and a super typhoon at its peak, battered the southern end of Luzon, especially Bicol region, Sunday.
“We further caution that this increase may still be observed over the next few days and may be followed by a relative ‘increase’ in newly reported cases in the coming days or weeks,” it said.
The DOH did not detail the effects of "Rolly" to the low number of cases but at least six health facilities in Bicol region were partially damaged during its onslaught.
Wednesday’s tally also did not include data from 12 testing laboratories that failed to submit results on time.
With 136 new infections, Davao City registered the biggest increase. It was followed by Iloilo with 67, Quezon City with 47, Taguig City with 43 and Iloilo City with 41.
The department earlier said that the average number of daily cases nationwide was 1,887 in the last two weeks, down from 2,517 three to four weeks ago.
An additional 140 recoveries were also recorded. Total number of recoveries reached 349,091 or 90% of the cumulative cases.
But the respiratory illness claimed the lives of 49 more patients, raising the fatality count to 7,367.
Active cases in the country stood at 31,679, accounting for 8% of the total confirmed cases.
Data from laboratories showed that as of Tuesday noon, an additional 16,163 people had been tested for the new coronavirus. Of these, 1,145 tested positive.
More than 4.5 million individuals have been tested for the coronavirus in the Philippines, with the cumulative positivity rate at 9.6%
The pandemic has killed over 1.2 million individuals worldwide since emerging in China late last year. More than 47 million cases have been registered.
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