MANILA, Philippines — Individuals infected with the new coronavirus in the country reached 478,761 four days into 2021, with 959 more cases reported Monday.
Latest data from the Department of Health showed that Quezon City recorded that highest number of new cases with 73. Davao City came in second with 70, followed by Rizal with 58, Agusan del Sur with 44 and Laguna with 41.
The DOH said the lower number of reported cases was due to the "decrease in the number of patients seen in COVID-19 laboratories during the New Year." Monday's figures also did not include data from three testing hubs that failed to submit results on time.
The agency reported also logged 26 new recoveries, pushing the total number of people who survived the disease in the country to 448,279.
The death toll, meanwhile, rose to 9,263 after six more more people succumbed to COVID-19.
This meant that the country has a total of 21,219 active cases or people continuing to receive treatment or undergo quarantine. Active cases accounted for 4.4% of the country’s confirmed infections.
Of these, 89.6% are mild and asymptomatic cases. Some 3.4% are severe cases, while 6.4% are in critical condition.
Health authorities are anticipating a surge in cases as the holiday season ends and as they monitor a new and more transmissible coronavirus variant that had originated in the United Kingdom.
The Philippines reported its first case of novel coronavirus on January 30, 2020: a 38-year-old woman from Wuhan in China, where the pathogen first appeared in late 2019. Her companion, a 44-year-old man, was the first confirmed fatality outside China.
Globally, the new coronavirus has infected 85 million individuals, with over 1.8 million deaths.
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