DOH records over 3,000 coronavirus cases for third consecutive day
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health reported 3,276 new cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 on Sunday, March 7, bringing the number of total cases to 594,412.
Of the total caseload, 36,043 or 6.1% are still classified as active cases, or patients who have neither passed away nor recovered and are still in hospitals and quarantine facilities.
The department in its latest case bulletin also reported 51 new deaths, bringing the total death toll to 12,516 or 2.1% of total cases.
Exactly 545,853 have now so far recovered after the DOH added 10,516 more recoveries, good for a 91.8% recovery rate.
One sample found with South African variant
Earlier Sunday, the Department of Health also reported that the Philippine Genome Center had found that one of 30 anonymized samples from the Philippine General Hospital was found to have traces of the South African coronavirus variant.
"High-risk exposures to recently reported infected staff have already been identified, quarantined, and tested. Second and third-generation contact tracing continues. Improvements are underway," the DOH also said in a statement sent to reporters.
"A large volume of testing is expected to continue as more staff are encouraged to have RT-PCR test for the COVID-19 virus. We are doing all of these measures to prevent more COVID-19 infections and protect our staff as well as our patients," the department also said.
On Saturday, the DOH claimed that there is still not enough evidence to conclude that there is local transmission of the highly contagious coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa even after it logged 52 new cases of it the day before.
That same day, the Philippines logged over 3,000 coronavirus cases for the second day in a row.
Saturday's 3,439 new cases also marked the highest daily rise since October 2020.
What's new today?
- The Metro Manila Development Authority said it would review its existing quarantine protocols as the 12-day spike in cases inundated quarantine facilities to 89% capacity yesterday.
- Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said that the next two weeks would be "crucial" in determining if the country is able to manage the rising cases.
- Globally, over 117 million coronavirus cases have been recorded, leading to more than 2.5 million deaths around the world.
- It has been 355 days since the first enhanced community quarantine was hoisted. The Philippines is still under the world's longest quarantine.
— Franco Luna
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