COVID-19 cases in Philippines exceed 480,000 with 1,047 new infections
MANILA, Philippines — The country now has more than 480,000 cases of the new coronavirus after health authorities recorded 1,047 more infections Wednesday.
To date, 480,737 people have had COVID-19 in the Philippines nearly a year after the Department of Health reported the country’s first confirmed case: a 38-year-old woman from Wuhan in China, where the virus originated.
Davao City posted the highest number of additional cases with 79. Quezon City came in second with 58, followed by Laguna with 55, and Bulacan and Cagayan de Oro City with 40 cases each.
For the past three days, the DOH reported daily cases fewer than 1,000 as a result of the decline in the number of people who sought COVID-19 testing during the holiday season.
Recoveries reached 448,700 after 339 more people were given a clean bill of health.
But fatalities due to the respiratory illness increased to 9,347, up by 26 from the previous count.
Of the 22,690 active cases, 81.8% exhibit mild symptoms, 8.5% are asymptomatic, 6% are in critical condition, 3.2% are severe cases and 0.52% have moderate symptoms.
Wednesday’s tally did not include data from three testing laboratories that failed to submit their results on time.
COVID-19 variant not yet in Philippines
In a joint statement, the DOH and the Philippine Genome Center said the new coronavirus variant first detected in the United Kingdom has not yet been detected in the Philippines based on the analysis of samples taken in November and December last year.
This development comes after Hong Kong health authorities reported four new cases of the new variant, which experts say potentially spreads faster. Among them was a 30-year-old female Hong Kong resident who returned from Manila on December 22.
The health department and local experts called on the public to continue following minimum public health standards such as mask wearing, physical distancing and proper handwashing.
COVID-19 has infected at least 86.4 million people across the globe, with over 1.86 million deaths.
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