Philippines breaks record COVID-19 cases again with 39,004 new infections

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines logged 39,004 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, topping the previous record of 37,207 cases set just a day before.

The new infections bring the country’s total caseload to 3,168,379. Of this, 280,813 are currently sick.

The country also reported that 43 more patients died due to COVID-19, pushing the death toll to 52,858, while recoveries increased by 23,613 to 2,834,708.

The positivity rate stood at 47.1% out of 78,774 tests, which is way above the 5% threshold set by the World Health Organization for opening economies.

Fourteen laboratories did not submit data to the DOH.

Community spread of Omicron in Metro Manila

• Weeks after the country began seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases, primarily in Metro Manila, the Department of Health says there is community transmission of the Omicron variant in the capital region.
   
• OCTA Research fellow Guido David says the daily growth rate of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila is “steadily declining,” noting that this decreased to 3% on Saturday from 5% a day before.
   
• Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the Department of Health has also noticed a slowing down of the increase in cases in Metro Manila, but cautioned that infections are still rising.
   
• The government’s pandemic task force has allowed quarantine hotels to also serve as isolation facilities for people who test positive for COVID-19.

— Xave Gregorio