DOH: 538 more people have COVID-19 in PH; record tops 2,000-mark

MANILA, Philippines — Over 500 new cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been recorded by the Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday, causing the total tally to climb past the 2,000-mark.

To be exact, DOH said the count reached 2,084 as of Tuesday afternoon as 538 more individuals were found COVID-19 positive.

The health department likewise revealed 10 more fatalities from the highly infectious respiratory illness, raising the total to 88, while seven more patients were able to recover from it, bringing the total number of recoveries to 49.

The documented daily new cases were a record-high spike since the outbreak of the disease in the country in February.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire attributed the high daily posting of new cases to the increased processing of testing kits by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and the operation of other sub-national laboratories to also process results.

The COVID-19 outbreak emerged in China’s Wuhan City in Hubei province in late 2019. The highly contagious respiratory illness is caused by a coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2

The World Health Organization has already declared COVID-19 a pandemic. 

Globally, the virus already infected more than 785,800 people and killed more than 37,800 as of March 31. On the other hand, over 165,655 people have recovered so far from the disease.

For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

KGA