MANILA, Philippines (Updated 5:14 p.m.) — The Department of Health reported that 1,849 more people got infected with COVID-19, pushing the country’s caseload to 521,413 Friday.
The latest figures showed that of the total cases, 35,048 or 6.7% are active.
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At least 475,765 individuals have recovered from COVID-19 in the Philippines after the DOH recorded 177 additional recoveries.
Meanwhile, the death toll reached 10,600 with 48 more patients succumbing to the respiratory illness.
Case bulletin
The DOH did not include in its case bulletin the list of areas with the most number of new COVID-19 cases.
The DOH said it is currently reviewing the daily case bulletin to provide the country’s COVID-19 situation in a format “more understandable” to the public.
“The previous list of areas is based on total new cases reported that day, which is sometimes misinterpreted as total new or active cases,” the department said.
What’s new today?
- Metro Manila, Batangas, Tacloban City, Davao City, Davao del Norte, Lanao del Sur and Iligan City will remain under general community quarantine for another month. Meanwhile, the provinces of Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province, and Baguio City will revert to GCQ from February 1 to 28.
- The restriction on foreigners coming from countries with cases of the more contagious coronavirus variant will “lapse” in January 31, Malacañang said
- Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong volunteered to quit as the country’s contact tracing czar but his resignation was not accepted by President Rodrigo Duterte’s task force. Magalong drew flak for attending a birthday party where guests flouted quarantine rules.
- The DOH said the case of a Filipina worker in Hong Kong who was found to have the more transmissible COVID-19 variant is now considered “closed.” However, it remains unclear how and where the woman caught the virus.