COVID-19 infections in Philippines surpass 550,000

MANILA, Philippines — The country now has more than 550,000 cases of COVID-19 after health authorities reported 1,685 new infections Monday.

To date, 550,860 individuals have had COVID-19 in the Philippines. Of these, 5% or 27,588 are active cases.

Recoveries reached 511,755 after 14 more people recuperated from the severe respiratory illness.

But deaths due to COVID-19 increased to 11,517, up by two from the previous count.

What’s new today?

• The reopening of movie theaters has been moved to March 1 at the earliest and will be subject to the guidelines of local governments. This came after mayors of Metro Manila, which is under general community quarantine, opposed the pandemic task force’s decision to allow the reopening of cinemas.
• President Rodrigo Duterte is now willing to be inoculated against COVID-19 in public, Malacañang said.
• One of the newly-reported cases of the B.1.1.7. variant is linked to the cluster of COVID-19 infections reported in the Metro Rail Transit 3 depot last month. DOH identified the case as a 46-year-old female resident of Pasay City. She is currently undergoing home quarantine.
• The House ways and means committee approved the tax provision of a bill allowing local government units to procure COVID-19 vaccines directly from manufacturers.